Hofburg
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Today, Hofburg - the impressive palace of the Habsburg dynasty - is a magnificent cultural historical complex comprising a vast number and diversity of museums, churches, chapels and even the National Library. One of Hofburg's most significant museums - and definitely one of Vienna's greatest prides and treasures - is the incredible wealth that is the Imperial Treasury or Schatzkammer which offers a superb display of the Habsburg dynasty's jewellery, regalia, masterpieces of applied arts and sacred relics.
Hofburg is also home to the world-famous Albertina, a museum boasting the world's largest collection of graphic art: from Leonardo da Vinci and Alrecht Dürer to Pablo Picasso and Mark Chagall, the core of the collection comprises drawings and etchings by some of the greatest masters of all times.
One of the museum's special features is its collection of architectural drawings, comprising 50 000 plans, sketches and scale models created by great architects like Francesco Borromini, Fischer von Erlach, Otto Wagner, Adolph Loos, et al.
From the mid-1800s, the Albertina also owns a collection of photography; currently offering a more structured content, the collection offers an insight into the development of Austrian photography and a culturally and historically enlightening trip through the Vienna of the olden days.
The museum currently also features a permanent show of classical modernism, based on the private collection of Rita and Herbert Batliner Foundation, acquired in 2007. The Albertina is thus doing a lot to compensate for the blanks in the overview of the worldwide development of modernism previously demonstrated by the Austrian national art museums. The highly esteemed collection comprises masterpieces by Claude Monet, Auguste Renoire, Paul Cézanne, Amadeo Modigliani, Henri Matisse, Pablo Picasso, Ernst Ludwig Kirchner, Mark Rothko and Francis Bacon.
The context of the palace complex is an interesting background for the Spanish Riding School (Spanische Reitschule): the completely white Winter Riding School gallery hall, designed by the Baroque master Joseph Fischer von Erlach in the early 1700s, still hosts the solemn and dazzling parades - a tradition born as early as in the 16th century.
For an intriguing contrast, do visit the Butterfly House (Schmetterlinghaus) in the palace garden: a magic hothouse of the purest Art Nouveau where myriads of vibrantly coloured butterflies can be watched in an environment of a tropical forest.
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