One of the great museums of Europe — built to house the Habsburg collections. Bruegel, Vermeer, Caravaggio, Velázquez, and the most comprehensive survey of 16th-century European painting you will encounter anywhere.
Location
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Insider Intel
Picture Gallery on the first floor: the Bruegel room (world's largest collection), the Vermeer masterpieces, Caravaggio's dramatic works. The building itself — neo-Renaissance palace completed in 1891 — is as important as the collection. Have coffee in the domed cafe under Klimt's lunettes.
Tuesday or Wednesday morning for smallest crowds. Thursday evening (open until 9pm) for a different energy — fewer tour groups, different light in the galleries. Allow three hours minimum if you care about painting.
Opened in 1891, designed by Semper and Hasenauer. The collection spans Egyptian antiquities to 18th-century painting — all assembled by Habsburg rulers over 600 years. Bruegel's The Tower of Babel, The Hunters in the Snow, and Peasant Wedding are here. The coin collection is one of the finest numismatic collections in the world. The staircase alone — marble, frescoes, sculpture — is worth the entrance fee. This is imperial collecting at its most refined.