The complete data volume of the model is around 70 megabytes. The statue of Charles VI takes up around the same amount of space. It consists of 7,000 triangular surfaces with a texture from six photographs. The interior of the Great Hall, which once housed the entire collection of the National Library, also provides the visual framework for the menu users have at their disposal to visit its other large collections. Each virtual visitor has an opportunity to meander through individual collections, view treasures and develop a feeling for the sheer diversity of European art and culture.
Libraries are receptacles of history.
An interactive journey through the medieval collection focuses naturally on the pre-Gutenberg world of manuscripts. His son, Maximilian I, was responsible for three generations of interdynastic intermarriage that turned the House of Habsburg from a small power into a European one. You can see the autographs of Emperor Maximilian I and his wives, Maria of Burgundy and Bianca Sforza. Here we are dealing not only with bibliographic treasures or examples of book making as an art but personal artefacts that reflect Austrian and European history. Libraries initially were a privilege of dominion, one of the accoutrements of being a ruler.