Kunsthistorisches Museum, Art museum in Innere Stadt, Vienna, Austria
The Kunsthistorisches Museum is a rectangular building on Maria-Theresien-Platz in Vienna's Innere Stadt, with symmetrical Renaissance Revival sandstone façades and an octagonal dome 60 metres high. Large arched windows line the main levels, and the interior is decorated with marble, stucco, gold leaf and murals. The grand stairway carries paintings by Gustav Klimt, Ernst Klimt, Franz Matsch, Hans Makart and Mihály Munkácsy.
The museum traces its origins to 1776, when Maria Theresa and Joseph II opened the imperial collections at the Belvedere. Emperor Franz Joseph I commissioned the two Ringstrasse museums in 1858; the competition was won by Gottfried Semper and Carl von Hasenauer, and the foundation stone was laid on 27 November 1871. The building opened on 17 October 1891 and was opened to the public from 22 October.
The building takes its name from art history, the study of art across the centuries, and displays works from several periods in its tall halls. Visitors move through rooms where paintings, sculptures and decorative objects from the Habsburg collection are on view.
The building opens its doors Tuesday through Sunday between 10 in the morning and 6 in the evening, with extended hours until 9 on Thursdays. The three floors are accessible by stairs and elevators, and a visit typically takes several hours.
The Coin Cabinet holds more than 700,000 objects, including both the largest and smallest gold medals in the world. This collection traces the development of money from ancient times to the present in a compact space.
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