The Albertina is a
museum
A museum is an institution dedicated to displaying or Preservation (library and archive), preserving culturally or scientifically significant objects. Many museums have exhibitions of these objects on public display, and some have private colle ...
in the
Innere Stadt
The Innere Stadt (; ; "Inner City") is the 1st municipal Districts of Vienna, district of Vienna () located in the center of the Austrian capital. The Innere Stadt is the old town of Vienna. Until the city boundaries were expanded in 1850, the I ...
(First District) of
Vienna
Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...
,
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
. It houses one of the largest and most important
print rooms in the world with approximately 65,000
drawing
Drawing is a Visual arts, visual art that uses an instrument to mark paper or another two-dimensional surface, or a digital representation of such. Traditionally, the instruments used to make a drawing include pencils, crayons, and ink pens, some ...
s and approximately 1 million
old master print
An old master print (also spaced masterprint) is a work of art produced by a printing process within the Western tradition (mostly by Old Masters). The term remains current in the art trade, and there is no easy alternative in English to distingu ...
s, as well as more modern graphic works, photographs and architectural drawings. Apart from the graphics collection the museum has acquired, on permanent loan two significant collections of
Impressionist and early 20th-century art, some of which are on permanent display. The museum also houses temporary exhibitions. The museum had 360,073 visitors in 2020, down 64 percent from 2019 due to the
COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...
, but still ranked 55th in the
List of most-visited art museums
A primary source for 2024 figures is the Art Newspaper whose most recent annual survey was published in March 2025. Other major sources included the newsroom of the Smithsonian Institution, the French Ministry of Culture, and the Association of ...
in the world.
History
The Albertina was erected on one of the last remaining sections of the
fortification
A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Lati ...
s of Vienna, the Augustinian
Bastion
A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...
. Originally, the Hofbauamt (Court Construction Office), which had been built in the second half of the 17th century, stood in that location. In 1744 it was refurbished by the director of the Hofbauamt,
Emanuel Teles Count Silva-Tarouca, to become his
palace
A palace is a large residence, often serving as a royal residence or the home for a head of state or another high-ranking dignitary, such as a bishop or archbishop. The word is derived from the Latin name palātium, for Palatine Hill in Rome whi ...
; it was therefore also known as ''Palais Taroucca''. The building was later taken over by
Albert Casimir, Duke of Teschen, who used it as his residence. Albert later brought his graphics collection there from
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, where he had acted as the
governor of the Habsburg Netherlands. He had the building extended by
Louis Montoyer. Since then, the palace has immediately bordered the
Hofburg
The Hofburg () is the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty in Austria. Located in the Innere Stadt, center of Vienna, it was built in the 13th century by Ottokar II of Bohemia and expanded several times afterwards. It also ser ...
. The collection was expanded by Albert's successors. When his grandson
Archduke Albrecht, Duke of Teschen lived there until his death in 1895 it was called the Palais Erzherzog Albrecht.
The collection was created by Duke Albert with the Genoese count
Giacomo Durazzo, the Austrian ambassador in Venice. In 1776 the count presented nearly 1,000 pieces of art to the duke and his wife
Maria Christina (
Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa (Maria Theresia Walburga Amalia Christina; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was the ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position suo jure, in her own right. She was the ...
's daughter). Count Durazzo, who was the brother of
Marcello Durazzo, the
Doge of Genoa
The Doge of Genoa ( ) was the head of state of the Republic of Genoa, a city-state and soon afterwards a Maritime republics, maritime republic, from 1339 until the state's extinction in 1797. Originally elected for life, after 1528 the Doge (ti ...
– "wanted to create a collection for posterity that served higher purposes than all others: education and the power of morality should distinguish his collection...."
In the 1820s
Archduke Charles, Duke Albert and Maria Christina's foster son, initiated further modifications to the building by
Joseph Kornhäusel, which affected mostly its interior decoration. After Archduke Charles, his son
Archduke Albert then Albrecht's nephew the popular
Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen lived in the building.
In early 1919, the new
socialist
Socialism is an economic ideology, economic and political philosophy encompassing diverse Economic system, economic and social systems characterised by social ownership of the means of production, as opposed to private ownership. It describes ...
government of
Austria
Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
confiscated, without compensation, both the building and the collection belonging to the Archduke Friedrich and evicted him. In 1920 the collection of prints and drawings was united with the collection of the former Imperial court library. In 1921 the building was renamed The Albertina.
In March 1945, the Albertina was heavily damaged by USAAF
bomb
A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechan ...
attacks. The building was rebuilt in the years after the war and was completely refurbished and modernized from 1998 to 2003. Modifications of the exterior entrance sequence, including a distinctive roof by
Hans Hollein were completed in 2008, when the graphics collection finally reopened. In 2018, the Albertina acquired the Essl Collection of 1,323 contemporary artworks, including pieces by
Alex Katz
Alex Katz (born July 24, 1927) is an American figurative artist known for his paintings, sculptures, and printmaking, prints. Since 1951, Katz's work has been the subject of more than 200 solo exhibitions and nearly 500 group exhibitions through ...
,
Cindy Sherman,
Georg Baselitz
Georg Baselitz (born 23 January 1938) is a German Painting, painter, Sculpture, sculptor and Graphic arts, graphic artist. In the 1960s he became well known for his Figurative art, figurative, expressive paintings. In 1969 he began painting his ...
,
Hermann Nitsch, and
Maria Lassnig.
On 27 May 2020, "Albertina modern" opened as a new museum for modern art. The collection of Albertina modern encompasses over 60,000 works by 5,000 artists. The
Albertina Klosterneuburg opened in April 2024 and displays post-1945 works.
Gallery
:''See also
:Collection of the Albertina, Vienna.''
File:Leonardo da vinci, Study for the Last Supper 2.jpg, ''Study for the Last Supper'' by Leonardo da Vinci
Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 1452 - 2 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially rested o ...
, c. 1495
File:Albrecht Dürer - Hare, 1502 - Google Art Project.jpg, '' Young Hare'' by Albrecht Dürer
Albrecht Dürer ( , ;; 21 May 1471 – 6 April 1528),Müller, Peter O. (1993) ''Substantiv-Derivation in Den Schriften Albrecht Dürers'', Walter de Gruyter. . sometimes spelled in English as Durer or Duerer, was a German painter, Old master prin ...
(1502)
File:Pieter Bruegel the Elder - The Painter and the Buyer, ca. 1566 - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Painter and The Buyer
''The Painter and The Buyer'' is a 1565 pen-and-ink on brown paper drawing by the Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, Netherlandish Renaissance artist Pieter Bruegel the Elder. The alternative title is ''The Artist and The Connoisseur''. The ...
'' by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
Pieter Bruegel (also Brueghel or Breughel) the Elder ( , ; ; – 9 September 1569) was among the most significant artists of Dutch and Flemish Renaissance painting, a painter and printmaking, printmaker, known for his landscape art, landscape ...
, 1565
File:Jean-Honoré Fragonard - The Girl with the Marmot - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Girl with the Marmot'' by Jean-Honoré Fragonard
Jean-Honoré Fragonard (; 5 April 1732
(birth/baptism certificate)
– 22 August 1806) was a French painter and printmaker whose late Rococo manner was distinguished by remarkable facility, exuberance, and hedonism. One of the most prolific art ...
, undated
File:Georg Decker Archduke Charles - Duke of Teschen.jpg, ''Archduke Charles, Duke of Teschen'' by Georg Decker, c. 1847
File:Henri Toulouse-Lautrec - The White Horse "Gazelle", 1881 - Google Art Project.jpg, ''The White Horse "Gazelle"'' by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec
Count, ''Comte'' Henri Marie Raymond de Toulouse-Lautrec-Monfa (24 November 1864 – 9 September 1901), known as Toulouse-Lautrec (), was a French painter, printmaker, draughtsman, caricaturist, and illustrator whose immersion in the colour ...
, 1881
File:Claude Monet, The Water Lily Pond, c. 1917-19, frame cropped, Google Art Project.jpg, ''The Water Lily Pond'', by Claude Monet, c. 1917–1919
File:Monet - Das Haus in den Rosen.jpeg, ''House Among the Roses'' by Claude Monet
Oscar-Claude Monet (, ; ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of Impressionism painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During his ...
, c. 1918
References
External links
*
Some pictures of the repositoryAudioguide of the introduction*
*
Further reading
*
{{Authority control
Art museums and galleries in Vienna
Palaces in Vienna
Culture in Vienna
Buildings and structures in Innere Stadt
Printmaking