Vienna Things to Do Tips by ALONA

The Vienna Kunsthistorisches Museum:
The newly constructed museum building in the Vienna Ringstraße was ceremoniously opened in 1891. For the first time, most of the imperial Habsburg collections were housed under one roof, the monumental building itself being conceived as a memorial to Habsburg patronage. The architects Gottfried von Semper and Karl Hasenauer designed the building in the style of the Italian Renaissance, establishing in the spirit of Historicism a link with an epoch of especial significance for the arts and sciences.
The heart of the Kusthistorisches Museum is the magnificent main staircase, which houses a monumental Theseus group by Antonio Canova. The ceiling painting, an apotheosis of the Renaissance, is by Mihály von Munkácsy. The decorations in the lunettes are the work of Hans Makart; the pictures in the spandrels and between the columns were created by Franz Matsch and the brothers Gustav and Ernst Klimt. An octagonal domed room adjoining the main staircase, which gives access to the picture galleries, was conceived with its sumptuous reliefs as a glorification of the Habsburgs´ passion for collecting art.

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Directions: Main building
A-1010 Vienna, Austria
Maria-Theresien-Platz
Tel: (+ 43 1) 525 24-401
Other Contact: To reach the museum fro

Every visitor to Vienna should take at least a cursory glance at St. Stephan's Cathedral. This is the church in the main square in Vienna. It was bombed in 1944, but was only left a shell. The stones are original, but the stained glass was non-existent.

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Parliamentary Building
It was originally intended to erect two separate buildings for the twochambers created by the Februar-Patent of 1861, the Herrenhaus and the House of Deputies. After the Compromise with Hungary this plan was,however, dropped and Theophil von Hansen was entrusted by the Ministry of the Interior in 1869 with the truly monumental project of a large Parliamentary Building.The collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy coincided with the termination of the multi-national Parliament in Vienna. Since November 1918 the building has been the seat of the parliamentary bodies of the Republic of Austria. As suffrage was gradually extended to more and more groups of citizens,this parliament began to fulfil its function as the genuine representationof the people. A modern parliament, one truly representative of the entirepeople, of all citizens regardless of sex, standing, level of education,taxes paid, ethnic origin, religious or other background, by the very natureof things requires a suitable infrastructure, i.e. sufficient office spaceand facilities, which may be seen as the indispensable prerequisites forefficient work of the members of the Nationalrat and the Bundesrat. Inthis respect, the Austrian Parliament is in no way different from pluralisticparliaments all over the world.

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Other Contact: In front of the ramp towers a mo

The Austrian National Library is a historical universal library housing the rich cultural and intellectual heritage of many European and non-European nations. Through presentation on the Internet it is aimed to reach the widest possible circle of persons interested in these holdings. The Austrian National Library holds approximately six million items and therefore ranks as the biggest library in Austria. Not only the number of books but also the nine special collections support its claims to international reputation. Papyri, manuscripts, ancient and rare books, maps, globes, music, portraits, graphics, photographs, autographs and posters as well as works in and on Esperanto and other artificial languages are stored in the various collections and are available for scientific research. The intensified application of new technology now enables the Austrian National Library to be presented in multimedial dimensions, thus granting a wider public access to its treasures.

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