Kunsthistorisches Museum Tour: A Guided Crash Course

The immense Kunsthistorisches Museum stands alongside the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and the British Museum as one of the great art collections in the world. In this Kunsthistorisches Museum tour, we'll join a local art historian to explore historical objects and artworks from the past seven millennia, from ancient Egypt to 20th-century Vienna Secession. 

Our visit is designed as an overview or "crash course,” with time spent in several of the major collections. One particular focus will be the picture gallery, featuring 16th and 17th-century paintings from Venice, the Netherlands, and Germany, including masters such as Titian, Vermeer, van Eyck, and Dürer. Inspired by the masterpieces hanging before us, we’ll discuss the visible differences between northern and southern European painting styles. We’ll also look at how and why the ruling Habsburgs collected certain works and will cast our imaginations outwards to reflect on the collection’s greater symbolism for imperial Austria. (Note, we discuss this topic further on our Schönbrunn Palace Tour.)

As an introduction to the Kunsthistorisches Museum, this walk and its route will be organically shaped by your preferences. From day to day, tour to tour, the specific course will shift according to the desires of the group and the scholarly interests of your guide—be it Greek and Roman antiquities, coins, decorative arts or large-scale paintings. Regardless of where our feet take us, we'll emerge with a deeper familiarity with the museum's rich collection and its symbolism during the centuries-long rule of the Habsburgs.

For a more focused look at the early 20th century, try our Vienna Architecture Tour. 

Are museum tickets included?
Museum tickets will be automatically added to your cart during checkout. Please note: tickets are for standard admission only and do not include any special temporary exhibitions.