Sights and landmarks in Vienna

Sights and landmarks in Vienna

1. SeeLandstraße

   21er Haus

   Museum für zeitgenössische Kunst / Museum of Contemporary Art

   Has a permanent exhibit of works by the Austrian sculptor/architect Fritz Wotruba, and hosts rotating exhibits of international contemporary art.

   Wed Thu 11:00-21:00, Fri-Sun 11:00-18:00; open on holidays·€7 (adults), €5.50 (seniors/students/Vienna Card), free (under 18)

2. SeeInnere Stadt

   Albertina

   Once a palace, it is now the most popular exhibition space in Vienna, mainly for traditional modern art. The building itself is an experience as well. It is home to a valuable drawing collection, including many works of the German Renaissance painter, Dürer.

   Thu-Tue 10:00-18:00, Wed 10:00-21:00·€11.90 (adults), €9.90 (seniors 60+), €9.70 (Vienna Card), €8.50 (students), €7 (unemployed/military/disabled), free (children under 19)

3. SeeInnere Stadt

   Ankeruhr

   A large 4-m-diameter musical clock on a pedestrian bridge connecting two neighboring buildings. The clock was designed between 1911 and 1914 by the Judgenstil painter Franz Matsch, and features prominent figures from Viennese history, each with a Roman character. At noon all figures parade across the clock face, accompanied by music. During the Advent season, Christmas songs are played daily at 17:00 and 18:00.

   Free

4. SeeLandstraße

   Arnold Schönberg Center

   This building houses an archive of the works of the Viennese composer, with a permanent exhibit relating to his work and music and a gallery of his paintings.

   Mon-Fri 10:00-17:00·€5 (adults), €3 (seniors/students), free (children under 12), 10% reduction for Vienna Card

5. SeeInnere Stadt

   Ausgrabungen Michaelerplatz

   Michaelerplatz Excavations

   Archeological excavations carried out between 1989 and 1991 revealed not only the foundations of medieval buildings but also remains of the Roman canabae (civilian support settlement) of Vindobona, as Vienna was then known. The viewing area was designed by Viennese architect Hans Hollein.

   Daily 24 hr·Free

6. SeeInnere Stadt

   Bank Austria Kunstforum

   This venue hosts special exhibits of internationally-renowned artists; past exhibits have displayed work by Egon Schiele, Oskar Kokoschka, Cézanne, Picasso, and Van Gogh.

   Sat-Wed 10:00-19:00, Fri 10:00-21:00·€10 (adults), €8.50 (seniors), €6 (youth 17-27), €4 (children 6-16)

7. SeeInnere Stadt

   Beethoven Pasqualatihaus

   This 18th-century building is atop the Mölker Bastei, one of the only remaining sections of the old city wall. For 8 years Beethoven lived in a 4th-floor apartment in this building, where he composed his 4th-8th symphonies as well as his opera Fidelio. The museum preserves many of the composer's personal effects, and displays documents illustrating his life and work.

   Tue-Sun and holidays 10:00-13:00, 14:00-18:00·€4 (children and youth under 19), €3 (seniors/students and Vienna Card), free (children and youth under 19); free the first Sunday of every month

8. SeeOuter West

   Beethoven Wohnung Heiligenstadt

   Haus des Heiligenstädter Testaments / Beethoven House

   One of Beethoven's many residences within the city. While living here he composed his Symphony No. 2 in D major (Op. 36), as well as several other works.

   Tue-Sun holidays 10:00-13:00, 14:00-18:00·€5 (adults), €4 (seniors/students/Vienna Card), free (children and youth under 19), free the first Su of every month

9. SeeInner East

   Bezirksmuseum Brigittenau

   Brigittenau District Museum

   This little museum tells the story of the district itself through pictures, views and models.

   Sun 10:00-12:00, Thu 17:00-19:00, closed on holidays and school breaks·Free

10. SeeOuter East

    Blumengärten Hirschstetten

    The Flower Gardens of Hirschstetten are run by the City of Vienna. The Gardening Department fosters their plants, which are then used in public gardens and parks. In the public section, several themed gardens (Chinese, Mexican, etc.) are installed; there is a preserved farm with petting zoo, an educational beehive, some turtles, owls and wild cats. For children, there is a big insect-themed playground available. Between Oct and March, only the orangerie is open for public. In front of the orangerie, there are popular Christmas and Easter markets during the weeks before the respective holidays.

    end of Mar - mid Oct: Tue-Sun 08:00-18:00; Jun-Aug Fri-Sun 08:00-20:00·Free

11. SeeLandstraße

    Botanischer Garten

    Botanic Gardens

    Established in 1754 by Empress Maria Theresia as a garden for medicinal plants and granted to the University of Vienna, which has maintained it since. The gardens contain a number of rare plants, including alpine specimens.

    Hours vary by season and weather, generally 10:00-15:00/18:00·Free

12. SeeInner East

    Brigittakirche

    This Neogothic church is a landmark of the Brigittenau district. It was built between 1868 and 1874.

13. SeeInnere Stadt

    Burggarten

    It has the form of an English garden, and is directly adjacent to the Hofburg. It has a statue of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the summertime students like to hang out in middle of the trees.

14. SeeInner East

    Circus- und Clownmuseum

    Circus and Clown Museum

    This unusual museum houses a collection of props and costumes, with rotating exhibits.

    Sun 10:00-13:00, every 1st and 3rd Thu 19:00-21:00·Free

15. SeeOuter East

    CityGate

    Leopoldtower, Brachmühle, Schanze XX

    Two high-rise apartment buildings (80 m and 100 m tall), built 2013-2015, mark the northeastern entrance to the city. The two massive buildings strike out in an otherwise suburbian jungle of low-rise shopping centres and family houses. On the ground floor is a medium-sized shopping mall (CityGate Shopping)

16. SeeOuter East

    DC Towers

    Tallest building of Austria, with an "observation deck" at 207 m.

17. SeeOuter South

    Domenig-Haus

    Originally designed as a bank building by Günther Domenig, the structure now houses a publisher and a gallery run by a local cultural association.

    M W F 14:00-17:00 (closed for maintenance)

18. SeeInnere Stadt

    Dommuseum

    Cathedral and Diocesan Museum

    A collection of liturgical implements, illustrated manuscripts, altarpieces, and sculptures.

    Wed 10:00-18:00, Thu 10:00-20:00, Fri-Sun 10:00-18:00; last admission 30min before closing·€8 (adults), €7 (concessions), €3 (children 6-18); free (children under 6 or Vienna Pass)

19. SeeOuter East

    Donau City Church

    Donaucity-Kirche

    A modern Catholic church designed by the internationally-renowned Austrian architect Heinz Tesar.

20. SeeOuter East

    Donauturm

    Danube Tower

    An observation tower with spectacular view over the entire city. It also houses two rotating restaurants.

    Daily 10:00-24:00, last admission 23:30·€14.50 (adults), €9.90 (children)

21. SeeWieden

    Dritte Mann Museum

    Third Man Museum

    This is a private museum dedicated to the cult film The Third Man, which was shot in Vienna and released in 1949. This film is often played at the Burgkino.

    Sat 14:00-18:00 (no reservations)·€7.50 (adults), €6 (seniors/students)

22. SeeOuter South

    Ehrengräber

    Graves of honor

    Graves of famous composers including Beethoven, Brahms, Schubert, Strauss, and Schönberg are all here, as are the graves of other luminaries. Mozart's gravestone however is just a memorial, as he was buried in a mass grave in St. Marx Cemetery. A list of all Ehrengräber can be downloaded here.

23. SeeInnere Stadt

    Esperantomuseum

    Esperanto Museum

    Founded in 1927, this museum houses a library and museum with displays illustrating the development and grammar of the modern invented language Esperanto.

    Tue Wed 10:00-18:00, Thu 10:00-21:00, Fri-Sun 10:00-18:00·€4 (adults), €3.60 (Ö1 Club or Vienna Card), €3.50 (seniors); €3 (students/military/disabled); includes admission to the Globe and Papyrus Museums

24. SeeOuter East

    Fatty George Jazz Museum

    Honouring the jazz musician Fatty George (1927-1985), a small museum about his life and jazz in general was opened in his native village Essling, now part of Vienna. It was installed inside a historic toilet building in a park. The park was renamed Jazzpark and a sculpture depicting jazz (the musical style) was erected in 2005 by Leopold Grausam. On the opposite side of the street one can find another park memorializing another jazz musician, Bill Grah (1928-1996).

25. SeeInner East

    Flaktürme VII

    Flak towers

    This is a pair of anti-aircraft defense towers/bunkers, built by the Luftwaffe during World War II. During construction multiple rail tracks were laid across the park, and it is believed that hundreds of war victims were buried in mass graves on the grounds, still undiscovered. At 55 m high, the round Gefechtsturm (G-Tower, or gun tower) is the highest flak tower built during the war. The pair have proven nearly impossible to remove, and are now protected because of their historic value.

    Daylight hours

26. SeeAlsergrund

    Freud Museum

    This small museum is in Freud's historic flat where he practiced psychoanalysis for almost his whole life. However, the collection is limited mostly to documents of various kinds relating to Freud's life. Almost all of the flat's contents, including the famous original couch, went along with Freud to London when he fled the Nazis in 1939 and are now in the Freud Museum there.

    Daily 10:00–18:00·€10 (adults), €9 (seniors), €8.50 (Vienna Card), €7.50 (Club Ö1/students), €4 (children 12-18)

27. SeeLandstraße

    Fälschermuseum

    Museum of Art Fakes

    Unique museum devoted to art forgery. Houses a large collection of counterfeited paintings, many from highly-skilled, infamous forgers. Includes several pages of the infamous fake Hitler diaries which fooled numerous experts in the early 1980s.

    Tue-Sun 10:00-17:00, closed Mon and 24-25 Dec·€4.90 (adults), €4.40 (seniors/students), €2.20 (children 10-18), free (children under 9)

28. SeeOuter South

    Gasometer

    To see the combination of new modern with old historic architecture, visit the gasometers that have been revitalized from gas-tanks to new multi-functional buildings. The gasometers are four former gas tanks, built as part of the Vienna municipal gas works Gaswerk Simmering in 1896-1899, and used from 1899 to 1984 as gas storage tanks. After the changeover from town gas to natural gas they were no longer used and were shut down. From 1984-1997 the structures were used as a film location (James Bond: The Living Daylights) and as the location for raves known as Gazometer-Raves. They were revitalized from 1999 to 2001 by the architects Jean Nouvel, Coop Himmelblau, Manfred Wehdorn, and Wilhelm Holzbauer. Each gasometer was divided into several zones for living, shopping and entertainment, while conserving the historic outside wall. Other facilities including a music hall, cinema, student accommodation, municipal archive, etc. are located inside the Gasometers. There are special guided tours with experts available for visitors.

29. SeeInnere Stadt

    Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der bildenden Künste

    Gallery of the Academy of Fine Arts

    A gallery owned by the Academy of Fine Arts, to which Hitler applied to before he decided to change to politics. It offers some paintings by Rubens and Bosch. Most interesting are the Renaissance and medieval exponents.

    Tue-Sun and holidays 10:00-18:00·€8 (adults) €7 (Vienna Card), €5 (seniors/students/disabled), free (children and youth under 19)

30. SeeWieden

    Generali Foundation

    This private foundation houses large collection of contemporary art, with a special focus on photograph, film, video, and installation pieces. The archives and library are also open to the public.

    Exhibits: Tue-Sun 11:00-18:00, Thu 11:00-20:00, public holidays 11:00-18:00; archives/library Wed Thu 12:00-18:00, or by appt·€6 (adults), €3 (concessions, and Th after 18:00), free (students on T)

31. SeeInnere Stadt

    Globenmuseum

    Globe Museum

    The only museum of its type in the world, this museum contains a collection of 650 globes of all types, as well as a collection of nearly 300,000 historic maps.

    Tue Wed 10:00-18:00, Thu 10:00-21:00, Fri-Sun 10:00-18:00·€4 (adults), €3.60 (Ö1 Club or Vienna Card), €3.50 (seniors), €3 (students/military/disabled); includes admission to the Esperanto and Papyrus Museums

32. SeeOuter East

    Goethehof

    One of the bigger social housing projects of the "Red Vienna", the Goethehof was built 1928-1930 as living blocks (~700 apartments) surrounding a courtyard. The architectural style is modern-functionalist with some art déco-elements. As all of the housing projects of the social democratic Vienna (1919-1933), it was a quantum leap in housing quality for the working class. During the Austrian Civil War (1934) it was one of the strongholds of the resistance against Austro-fascism and even suffered the one and only air-raid during this conflict.

33. SeeOuter West

    Grinzing Parish Church

    Grinzinger Pfarrkirche

    Built in the 15th century, the church was burned in 1529 and 1683, during the first and second Turkish sieges of Vienna, and severely damaged during World War II. However one treasure did survive: the organ, on which both Beethoven and Schubert used to perform. The organ was modified several times since then and had fallen into severe disrepair, but in 1997 it was completely restored by a master organ builder and is now again played regularly.

34. SeeInnere Stadt

    Haus der Musik

    House of Music

    This is a relatively new and special museum devoted to an interactive learning experience. It covers the history of the Vienne Philharmonic Orchestra, the history of Vienna as a centre of music making (Mozart, Haydn, Beethoven, Mahler, Schubert and others are documented). In addition there are the more experimental sections of futuristic composition (the Brain Opera) and sound experiences.

    Daily 10:00-22:00, last admission 21:30·€12 (adults), €9 (seniors/students/disabled), €5.50 (children 3-12), free (children under 3)

35. SeeMariahilf

    Haus des Meeres

    Aqua Terra Zoo

    A marvelous zoo, with a rain forest glasshouse, tiny apes, aquariums with sharks, and terrariums with reptiles and venomous snakes. Other highlights include an interesting exhibit of Mediterranean sea life and the aquarium's beloved sea turtle, "Puppi." The apes and birds are allowed to freely mingle with the visitors, but don't attempt to touch or feed them. It is in one of the surviving air raid defense towers from WWII, a so-called Flakturm. During wartime, the building provided fire control for Vienna's anti-aircraft artillery, housed some of the first radar equipment, and is designed to withstand a direct bomb hit, an earthquake, and wind speeds up to an overpressure of ten bar. Its former gun emplacements are now a platform on top affording nice views over the roofs of Vienna.

    Mon-Wed 09:00-18:00, Thu 09:00-21:00, Fri-Sun 09:00-18:00·€14.20 (adults), €10.90 (concessions)

36. SeeMariahilf

    Haydnhaus

    Haydn's House

    Joseph Haydn spent the final twelve years of his life in this home, during which time he composed the oratorios The Creation and The Seasons. The house has been a museum since 1899, and careful restoration has included the small garden, which is now also open to the public.

    Tue-Sun and holidays 10:00-13:00, 14:00-18:00·€4 (adults), €3 (seniors/students/Vienna Card), free (children/youth under 19), free the first Sunday of every month

37. SeeLandstraße

    Heeresgeschichtliches Museum

    Museum of Military History

    A huge museum featuring weapons and military maps from different periods. You can also see the open-top car in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand, the last Austrian prince, was shot in Sarajevo. His death triggered World War I and the eventual downfall of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the same room as this is the visibly blood-stained jacket he was wearing at the time of his assassination.

    Daily 09:00-17:00·€6 (adults), €4 (seniors/students), free (under 19)

38. SeeLandstraße

    Heldendenkmal der Roten Armee

    Soviet War Memorial

    An imposing Soviet-style monument near Karlsplatz commemorates the Soviet victory in Vienna over the Nazi army.

39. SeeInnere Stadt

    Heldenplatz

    Heroes' Square

    A public space in front of the Neue Hofburg, setting to a number of important historic events, most notably of Adolf Hitler's 1938 announcement of the Austrian Anschluß. Two 19th-century equestrian statues portray Archduke Charles of Austria-Teschen and Prince Eugene of Savoy.

40. SeeHietzing

    Hermesvilla

    A late 19th-century palace in the Lainzer Tiergarten, a wooded area formerly used for hunting by the Habsburg family. The imperial apartments with their furnishings have been preserved, and feature murals by prominent Viennese artists of the day, including Franz Matsch, Hugo Charlemont, Georg und Gustav Klimt. The palace is now also used as a venue for special exhibits.

    Mar-Oct T-Sun and holidays 10:00-18:00·€7 (adults), €5 (seniors/students/Vienna Card), free (children and youth under 19), free the first Su of every month

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Listings from the Wikivoyage guide to Vienna (CC BY-SA 4.0).