Albertina Vienna museum includes one of the world’s most important collections of graphic works, with 65,000 drawings and 1 million original graphics.
In terms of art history collection of graphics, the museum also features much more modern graphical art, photographs, and an exhibition of architectural drawings.
The collection also has (on loan) sub-collections of impressionist art and art from early 20th century, and in addition to the permanent exhibitions, you can often find temporary exhibitions on various themes.
Initial works for the museum’s collections came from private collections of 18th century duke Albert of Saxen-Teschen (after whom the museum has been named) and Genoan count Giacomo Durazzo, who acted at the time as the Austrian ambassador to Venice.
PHOTO: A view to the Albertina museum from Vienna’s official tourism office, (www.wien.info) at the Albertinaplatz square, as seen through the museum’s open air modern art collection. The tourism office, which can help you in all questions regarding your visit to Vienna, has, for example, free city maps, and another office at the city’s international airport.
Giacomo Durazzo stated the purpose of the museum as “to collect artworks for the upcoming generations, serving a higher purpose than any other reason: education and the strength of morality, which will differentiate this collection from others”.
The museum is located right next door to the palace of Hofburg and Stephansdom Cathedral, so a visit to the museum is easy to include within a tour of the central Vienna tourist attractions.
Within the building, you can also find an excellent museum shop, which has a wide variety of products and memorabilia, ranging from exhibition catalogs to coffee table art books, artistic postcards, and copies of original artwork from Albertina’s collections.
Albertina Vienna Museum
Albertinaplatz 1
1010 Vienna
www.albertina.at
The restaurant’s terrace is one of the best in Vienna, offering unique views to the Vienna State Opera and over the palatial rooftops.