Even more museums, churches and palaces! Explore a bit more of Vienna!
(Check out Part 1 or Part 2 if you hadn’t yet.)
I swear this is the last post on Vienna, guys. Although, there would have been two more had I been able to take photos everywhere I visited.
Anyways, let’s start where I left off on day 2 of my visit. (I saw an obscene amount of stuff on Days 1 and 2.)
The last museum I stopped at on my second day was the Imperial Treasury Museum (Kaiserliche Schatzkammer). If you want to see shiny stuff, this is the place to go. The museum is full of Imperial treasures, like crowns, jewelry, and regal regalia, most of which were seized from the Hapsburg family in 1918. It’s a pretty random collection of stuff from different members of the Hapsburg dynasty.
Jana Irving The very shiny regalia of the Austrian Empire.
Jana Irving The cradle of the King of Rome, the heir of Napoleon. Baby Napoleon’s mother was Austrian, which explains how this cradle ended up here.
Jana Irving Much of the collection today is presented in a more modern exhibit space. However, they still use the old cabinets for mostly religious art.
Jana Irving After the Treasury, I went for a wander. Found this very interesting church, the Minoritenkirche. The bell tower had to be rebuilt a couple of times. Maybe, that is why it looks kind of weird.
Jana Irving The gorgeous Schottenkirche (Our Lady of the Scots) is the oldest monastery in Vienna. It was founded by Irish monks in 1155. (Ireland was often referred to as “Greater Scotland” at this time.)
Jana Irving Finally, end of Day 2. Schottenkirch is on the right.
The first thing Day 3 was the Schloss Schönbrunn (Schönbrunn Palace). It’s a giant Rococo palace outside of the city center, 1,441 rooms in total. The current appearance of the palace dates back to the reign of Maria Theresa (18th century). The second to last Austro-Hungarian Emperor Franz Joseph spent most of his time at the palace and died in the palace during WWI.
You annoyingly can’t take pictures inside, so I am going to show you a bit of the exterior of the palace and the gardens. Visit the link to see inside of the palace.
Jana Irving This is the closest I could get to the front. They were very annoyingly filming something. I got bad directions to get to the entrance of the palace and ended up walking around a bunch of the park in the back.
Jana Irving The garden would be much lovelier if it wasn’t below freezing outside.
Jana Irving There was a giant greenhouse in the park, plus a zoo.
Jana Irving To be honest, it was a really gorgeous palace and I do recommend looking at the photos on the official website.
After visiting the palace, I stopped by the Imperial Furniture Museum, which houses much of the furniture that once belonged to the Hapsburg rulers of the region. Here’s a couple of photos from that visit.
Jana Irving The first room of the museum just has a ton of the same things together in one place. There were so many candlesticks.
Jana Irving A heated terrarium to grow cacti in, apparently.
Jana Irving One of the lovely period rooms.
Now for Day 4, my last day in Vienna. The day started off with a wander and then finished with an amazing and gorgeous museum, the Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien (Art History Museum of Vienna).
Jana Irving The 1906 Österreichische Postsparkasse (a postal savings bank) was extremely modern for its time. Building an entire building out of reinforced concrete was a very new innovation.
Jana Irving Gorgeous Santa Maria Rotonda.
Jana Irving Glad I stopped by.
Jana Irving Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox. Honestly, I thought it was a synagogue at first.
Jana Irving That’s quite a yellow building.
Jana Irving St. Ruprecht (St. Rupert), an 8th century church completely surrounded by newer buildings.
Jana Irving Love that steeple.
Jana Irving A gorgeous 17th century Jesuit church (Jesuitenkirche).
Jana Irving A typical Jesuit church. They are all outrageous like this one.
Jana Irving Those curvy stone columns are very common in Jesuit churches.
Jana Irving Can’t afford to put in a real dome, you can always paint one.
Jana Irving Franziskanerkirche (Franciscan Church). It was blue on the inside, too.
Jana Irving Maria Theresa and the Museum of Natural History in Maria-Theresien-Platz.
Jana Irving Final destination, the Kunsthistorisches Museum.
Jana Irving Even the lobby was quite something.
Jana Irving One very grand staircase.
Jana Irving This building alone is worth a visit.
Jana Irving The very expensive, yet lovely cafe.
Jana Irving The coin collection. Gorgeous cabinets.
Jana Irving The regular galleries are lovely, as well.
Jana Irving Gold boat, anyone?
Jana Irving Or, how about a bear with a gun?
Jana Irving I approve of the classical art section of the museum.
Jana Irving The Egyptian section is themed like this. They just don’t make buildings like this anymore and it makes me sad.
Jana Irving A little Egyptian hippo sculpture from 2000 BCE. I may have bought a replica of this one.
Vienna is an amazing city that I could have spent a few more days in. My four-day visit was definitely not enough to see all the museums or explore the region around the city. Oh, well. I guess I will have to visit again.
Check out my next update where I explore Budapest!
or
Start at the beginning of this adventure in Zurich!
