The Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna

Zagan the motorhome has had a rest day at the Stellplatz in Vienna (N48.13556, E16.31584) while Jay and I have worn ourselves out sightseeing.

Last night we slept like logs as it was really quiet on the Vienna stellplatz. It’s pretty much surrounded by business units which close around 5pm. This morning we were up and at ‘em with a plan. Breakfast and a shower (the showers here are good too, hot and a tap – not the hated push button) was followed by a pooch walk/drag (Charlie doesn’t do mornings) before we set off back on the u-bahn into the city.

Charlie won’t be taking the subway in Vienna any time soon as he doesn’t like a muzzle

Shame he didn’t fancy joining us as there were loads of free pooch bags

First stop was the Rathaus (town hall) where we had a wander around the gothic building which was gearing up for a concert on Friday for the start of a festival (bad timing on our part). We then wandered around the ‘ring strasse’ which is celebrating 125 years this year. Built in place of the city walls, Vienna is a city encircled by amazing buildings instead of defences.

The Rathaus

Just when we were commenting on how quiet the city seemed, we arrived at the Parliament building just as a tour was finishing. As they headed off for their bus, we climbed up to the huge pillars and looked several of the many, many statues in the eye.

Loads of statues of horse punching around here – not good!

After stopping for a quick currywurst snack we headed over to the (I need to type this carefully) Kunsthistorisches Museum. I know we said we’ve had enough of churches, museums etc, but our Lonely Planet guide to Austria says that this museum ‘ranks among the finest museums in Europe, if not the world, and should not be missed’. Now that is strong praise indeed, so how could we not pay it a visit? The Vienna cards given to us by the lovely Dutch couple who were leaving the stellplatz as we arrived yesterday, got us a €1 discount and for the next two and half hours we made sure we got our €14 worth.

I hope you don’t have to be a same sex couple to use some of the crossings otherwise we’ve broken the law!

We didn’t stay long in the Egyptian section as we’d recently been to the Egyptian museum in Turin which is said to be the best outside of Egypt, glancing at familiar-looking artefacts as we passed through. It’s a wonder there is anything left in Egypt. We spent a little more time in the Greek and Roman areas as it’s a while since we were last in a Greek or Italian museum (except for the Egyptian and Ducati ones).

Finally we reached the Kunstkammer Vienna which houses centuries of goldsmith work, sculptures, bronzes, clocks, vessels and goblets collected by the Habsburgs. I was in awe of the collection, especially as we are now quite minimalist in terms of our own belongings, and it had Jay and I discussing if we need more bling in Zagan. As we stared at the artefacts a museum guide walked up to one glass case with a small group in tow, ‘this statuette is carved from one piece of ivory’ and with that they moved on, we looked at the delicate, tiny figurine in the case and marvelled at the workmanship.

No Jay we don’t need a gold salt cellar on wheels in Zagan!

Jay is determine to have a beard like this by the time we get home

A huge marble staircase took us up to the first floor where all the paintings are hung. I actually thought this was better than the Uffizi in Florence as there were fewer religious paintings, or if there weren’t it certainly seemed that way as we didn’t have to walk through several rooms of ‘Madonna and Child’ painted with varying amounts of gold. However even here I couldn’t manage to see a set of paintings by each of the turtles (Raphael was the only one present).

There was a painting by Johannes Vermeer which we both looked at closely after watching the documentary Tim’s Vermeer the other week – did he just paint what was projected onto his canvas using lenses and mirrors? Who knows, but it was a decent enough painting anyway.

Vermeer Painting

Favourite painting, one of a series by Giuseppe Arcimboldo

Overall though I think my favourite part of the museum was the building itself. There were no paintings hung here by Gustav Klimt (painter of The Kiss) as he’d been one of the artists who decorated the grand staircase. In the central room on the ground floor the painted ceiling showed the most prominent collectors of art in the Habsburg family along with their favourite artists and most important collected objects – objects that are on display in the rooms of the museum.

The main staircase with a familiar face on the balcony

Klimt paintings in the building

Even the restaurant was super posh

My favourite room with the painted ceiling

Thoroughly exhausted we made it through the last rooms at quite a pace and were relieved to be back out in the fresh air again. We grabbed a Sacher Cake to go and headed back on the u-bahn to Zagan and Charlie, who was even more pleased to see us than usual, as we had cake with us.

The cake was lovely with a nice cuppa back in Zagan – sure it would have been nice to have it in the city, but we were both shattered. There is so much more of the city that I would love to see, the parks, the markets, the huge Schönbrunn Palace, the modern art gallery, maybe even another museum or two (there are plenty to choose from) but the north is calling. Jay is researching Slovakia as I type this and tomorrow we’ll be over there. Vienna is most definitely on our ‘return to’ list, as it is so motorhome friendly.

Ju x