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Visiting Vienna

The Wien Museum MUSA

The MUSA sign

One side of Felderstraße has the imperious and imperial Rathaus, rich in history. The other side has the Wien Museum MUSA, which sits at the other end of the time spectrum with its contemporary art exhibitions.

MUSA exhibition venue

Wien Museum MUSA

One of the younger additions to the sites run by the Wien Museum is the MUSA, a small exhibition centre and cultural spot.

The larger area inside offers space for a main ticketed exhibition. This often addresses some aspect of Viennese contemporary art, such as a solo exhibition for a particular iconic artist or a review of some genre or era.

Past exhibitions have covered, for example (just to give you a flavour):

  • The life and work of architect Richard Neutra
  • The work of the Vienna-born abstract painter, Josef Mikl
  • The Viennese art scene in the 1990s
  • A Jorg Hartig retrospective (a pioneer of acrylic painting in Austria)

The main Wien Museum site has closed temporarily for long-term rebuilding work, so the MUSA has taken over some of the former’s exhibition duties. The remit now includes the history and culture of Vienna.

For example, the main exhibitions on my last two visits explored:

  • The famous social housing projects of the 1920s and 1930s that shaped 20th-century Vienna and continue to influence the city’s landscape and character today.
  • The interaction between art and politics during (and after) the Nazi period in Vienna

(All the display information and exhibit labels were in both German and English.)

A smaller room hosts the Startgalerie exhibition space, designed to encourage and support new artists. Art graduates hold solo exhibitions here, with a change every few weeks.

Main exhibition schedule

The Artothek

If you’re planning a longer stay in Vienna, then the Artothek within the MUSA building might pique your interest. Think of it as a lending library for contemporary art.

For a small monthly fee, you can borrow drawings, photographs, paintings and similar from the MUSA’s own collection to hang at home for up to 12 months.

Tickets & visitor tips

A standard adult entrance ticket cost €7 at the time of writing, but has a rather nice bonus to it.

Use the same ticket to go into one of the Wien Museum’s other sites for free, though the ticket does expire after 365 days. These sites include, for example, the former residences of Beethoven, Haydn, Schubert or Strauss (but not the Mozarthaus). Access to the Artothek or Startgalerie requires no ticket.

  • Put coats and jackets on a coat rack, or make use of the free coin-operated lockers
  • The MUSA ticket counter also has a few items for sale: mainly exhibition catalogues, postcards, CDs, DVDs, and a handful of souvenirs
  • The museum may be closed during the short periods between main exhibitions

How to get to the MUSA

The MUSA sits opposite the north wing of the Rathaus (city hall), so is easily reached if you’re meandering around the city centre.

Despite the central location, the premises lack any great history, largely because the land was part of the open ground that lay in front of the city fortifications until the late 19th century.

Subway: the closest station by far is the Rathaus stop on the U2 line.

Tram/bus: Go two streets in practically any direction from the MUSA and you hit a tram stop. For example:

  • The 34 and 44 lines stop at Landesgerichtsstraße
  • The 1, D and 71 stop at Rathausplatz/Burgtheater
  • The 2 at Rathaus

Address: Felderstraße 6-8, 1010 Vienna | Website

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