There are pianos. Then there’s Mahler’s piano. Or Liszt’s. Or the one they say Schubert composed on. All these items live in the historical musical instrument collection.
- Large collection of antique instruments
- Unique items with famous connections
- Track the evolution of instrument design
- Displayed in the Weltmuseum complex
- Book Weltmuseum tickets*
- See also:
- Instrument collection highlights
- Vivaldi concert on historical instruments
- Weltmuseum overview
- Vienna location guides for famous composers
Keyboards & more
(Visiting card of the piano builder, Ignatz Reithmeyer, Kettenbrückengasse, Wieden 836 in Vienna from around 1840, Wien Museum Inv.-Nr. 231875/77, excerpt reproduced with permission under the terms of the CC0 licence)
As you might imagine, Vienna has one or two historical musical instruments within the city limits. And a large number of them form the Kunsthistorisches Museum’s special collection.
The public displays fill a set of rooms within the Weltmuseum part of the Neue Burg extension to the central Hofburg palace.
These rooms begin at one end of the Neue Burg and stretch across to the other end, creating a linear journey through time mirrored in their contents.
You start, for example, with the 1500s and finish with the late Romantic period and 20th century. Numerous instruments fill display cases or stand free for even closer observation.
(Ignaz Bösendorfer (1796-1859), founder of the piano manufacturing company that bears his name; public domain image kindly provided by the Austrian National Library)
This chronological layout allows you to follow the evolution of designs and technologies while admiring the work of such leading manufacturers as Graf, Streicher, and Bösendorfer.
Further themes are music and court life, as well as instruments used by famous composers (Vienna has rather a lot of these, too).
The collection begins with images of the triumphal entry of Emperor Maximilian into Vienna, with real examples of the 16th-century instruments found in the illustrations.
These instruments cover a rich diversity of names and forms. Discover the Spinet and Regal and Base Lute Cittern, or wind and brass instruments that look as if a hallucinating student of Greek mythology designed them.
My favourite name is the Clavicytherium, which sounds like a herbivorous dinosaur but is actually a kind of upright harpsichord.
As you progress, the focus increasingly shifts to stringed instruments and keyboards, inevitably ending with the great grand pianos of the early 20th century.
The main items of interest for the casual visitor are, perhaps, those instruments that once passed through the hands of some of the world’s greatest musicians and composers.
However, the beauty of the instruments lies not only in their associations but in the workmanship, artistry and innovation of their construction.
(Entrance to the Weltmuseum and musical instrument collection)
So those with an interest in the history and technology will value the way the displays illustrate progressive instrument design.
And those of a creative bent will appreciate the simple artistic brilliance of many of the items, as seen in the twists and curves, the patterned inlays, the careful decoration or the glorious aesthetics.
I’ve written about what I consider collection highlights in a separate article.
Tickets & visitor tips
To access the instrument collection, you just need an entrance ticket for or from the Weltmuseum.
(Booking service provided by Tiqets.com*, who I am an affiliate of)
Some quick tips:
- A Vienna Pass gets you one-time free entry into the Weltmuseum, including the instruments collection
- If you want to hear some instruments, rather than just look at them:
- Pick up an audioguide
- Consider one of my classical concert recommendations (includes historical venues)
- Almost all written information is in German and English. Though sometimes the language used might go over the head of anyone not familiar with the vocabulary of musical instruments (i.e. me)
- You go up two floors and pass through the Imperial Armoury section to reach the instruments
- As a modern museum of ethnology, the Weltmuseum itself offers numerous fascinating exhibits on world cultures, with regular special exhibitions
- The magnificent ground floor atrium has a café that makes an excellent place to break your sightseeing tour of the wider Hofburg area
- The same part of the building housing the Weltmuseum also houses the Hofburg info centre and Imperial shop, so you might want to look at them while you’re there
- For more instruments and/or items related to the great Viennese composers, consider a visit to the Haus der Musik and the various musician residences managed by the Wien Museum
How to get to the collection
It’s central and easily accessed on foot or by public transport. See the Weltmuseum article for details.
Address: Heldenplatz, 1010 Vienna | Website