Kunsthistorisches Museum Tour: A Guided Crash Course

Get acquainted with the vast collection of Vienna's museum of art
From US$500 privately
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Tour Details
Duration
2.5 hours
Product Type
Tour
Venues
  • Kunsthistorisches Museum
  • Works by Brueghel & others
Photos & Highlights
  • Highlights of Kunsthistorisches Museum
  • Led by local art historian or scholar
Select a date
Tour Description
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. 

Kunsthistorisches Museum Tour with an Expert

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.)

Navigating the Galleries

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 of 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

FAQ

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.
Experts
Orsolya Orsolya
Musician
Regine Regine
Historian, Art Historian,
Alexa Alexa
Art Historian
Piroska Piroska
Architect
Reinhard Reinhard
Cultural Historian
Marlene Marlene
Local Guide
Elisabeth Elisabeth
Local Guide
Gabriela Gabriela
Local Guide
Katharina Katharina
Art Historian
Jan Jan
Architect
Irene Irene
Art Historian
Robert Robert
Local Guide
Where You'll Start
(4.7) 61 Reviews

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Great tour helping us to understand the works of art that makes the museum unique. A first class guide and a first class museum.
Alexa was great. Very knowledgeable about the building of the museum and the art as well as the emperors and politics of the time period. We definitely did not have enough time so we came back after lunch and purchased another admission to the museum and still did not have enough time. The tour was a perfect introduction and definitely made us want to come back for more. We would do the extended tour if we came back and plan to have more time. I would highly recommend Alexa as well.
Clemena was excellent and very knowledgeable! She gave us many expert insights into the art we viewed. She was very engaging and tailored her information to our interests.