The Kunsthistorisches Museum, Museum of Art History, Wien, Vienna, Austria. Photo:Jeff Gilbert
Kunsthistorisches Museum The Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna numbers among the most important European museum buildings put up during the 19th century. The monumental structure, built at the behest of Emperor Franz Joseph I as part of his expansion of the city in 1858, was intended to both unite and appropriately represent the artistic treasures that had been collected by the Habsburgs over the centuries. Construction work lasted 20 years, from when ground was first broken in 1871 to the museum building’s completion in the year 1891. The Kunsthistorisches Museum (English: "Museum of Art History", also often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on Ringstraße, it is crowned with an octagonal dome. The term Kunsthistorisches Museum applies to both the institution and the main building. It was opened in 1891 at the same time as the Naturhistorisches Museum, by Emperor Franz Joseph I of Austria-Hungary. The two museums have identical exteriors and face each other across Maria-Theresien-Platz. Both buildings were built between 1872 and 1891 according to plans drawn up by Gottfried Semper and Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer. The two Ringstraße museums were commissioned by the Emperor in order to find a suitable shelter for the Habsburgs' formidable art collection and to make it accessible to the general public. The façade was built of sandstone. The building is rectangular in shape, and topped with a dome that is 60 meters high. The inside of the building is lavishly decorated with marble, stucco ornamentations, gold-leaf, and paintings.
Size: 5616px × 3744px
Location: Kunsthistorisches Museum, 1010 Vienna, Maria Theresien-Platz
Photo credit: © Jeff Gilbert / Alamy / Afripics
License: Licensed
Model Released: No
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