num_pages: 127
description: The "Kunsthistorisches Museum" Museum (Museum of the History of Art) houses art that originally comprised the private collections of the Austrian royal family. [Members] of the House of Hapsburg began to take a personal interest in collecting in the 15th century.... Some... collected systematically in grand style so that today the Hapsburg collections of Vienna and Madrid rank among the most important in the world.... The name "Kunsthistorisches Museum" does not date back to the origins of these collections but first appeared with reference to the magnificent building erected in Vienna between 1871 and 1891 so that the long extant collections could be exhibited together in a distinguished and scientifically organized installation. Although the imperial collections were accessible to the public prior to 1891, they were dispersed in various places. The imperial picture gallery was housed in the buildings of the castle of the Upper Belvedere, while the collections of ancient art -- Egyptian, Near Eastern, Greek and Roman -- were concentrated in the Lower Belvedere. So-called minor works of art, dating to the Baroque, were on exhibit in other rooms, side by side with Renaissance objects of the decorative arts -- goldwork, bronzes and ivories, in part from the famous collection in Schloss Ambras. Numerous other masterpieces of the decorative arts, including the insignia of the Golden Fleece and the Hapsburg family jewels, were kept in the Schatzkammer (Treasury) in the Hofburg.... The collections of minerals, shells and other wonders of nature... are now to be seen in the "Naturhistorisches Museum" (Natural History Museum).... Only the collections in the main building overlooking the Ring are presented in this book, with illustrations of the most important paintings in the Gallery, together with a few selected examples of pieces in the Egyptian-Near Eastern Collection, the Collection of Antiquities and the Kunstkammer.
language: English
title: THE KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM IN VIENNA: A PICTURE PANORAMA
titlecomplete: THE KUNSTHISTORISCHES MUSEUM IN VIENNA: A PICTURE PANORAMA
ratings_count: 4
places: Vienna, Austria
publisher: Casa Editrice Bonechi