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The Weltmuseum (translating to World Museum) in Vienna is the largest anthropological museum in Austria, established in 1876. It is housed in a wing of the Hofburg Imperial Palace and holds a collection of more than 400,000 ethnographical and archaeological objects from Asia, Africa, Oceania, and America.
Until 2013, it was known as the Museum of Ethnology, German : Museum für Völkerkunde)
The museum's collections comprise more than 200,000 ethnographic objects, 100,000 photographs and 146,000 printed works from all over the world. Important collections include Mexican artifacts, such as a unique Aztec feathered headdress, part of James Cook's collection of Polynesian and Northwest Coast art (purchased in 1806), numerous Benin bronzes, the collection of Charles von Hügel from India, Southeast Asia, and China, collections from the Austrian Brazil Expedition, artifacts collected during the circumnavigation of the globe by the SMS Novara, and two of the remaining rongorongo tablets.
The museum's most famous piece is a feathered headdress which tradition holds belonged to Moctezuma II, the Aztec emperor at the time of the Spanish Conquest. This has created friction between the Mexican and the Austrian governments. [1] Originally taken as war booty by the Spanish in the 16th century, Austria acquired it from France in 1880.
Early ethnographic collections in Austria date back to the 16th century. The so-called “Kunst- und Wunderkammern“ comprised many objects, such as the collection by Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria, which was stored in Ambras Castle in Innsbruck. In the course of the Coalition Wars these objects were transferred to Vienna. Other important collections were assembled by numerous explorers and travellers, such as Johann Natterer, who accompanied the Austrian Brazil Expedition from 1817 to 1835, or the scientists of the Austrian frigate ”SMS Novara” [2]
In 1876, the Imperial and Royal Court Museum of Natural History – predecessor of the Museum of Ethnology – was established, [3] consisting of five departments. In the years following Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria’s journey round the world (1892/93), [3] the collections of the Anthropological-Ethnographic Department were separated from the museum and installed in the Hofburg Imperial Palace and combined with the Archduke’s collection, which comprised more than 14,000 objects and around 1,100 photographs. This “Museum of Ethnology” was opened on 28 May 1928. In the post-World War II period, extensive reconstruction works were undertaken. The museum also presented numerous temporary exhibitions at two permanent outposts – Schloss Matzen and the Gaming Charterhouse. [2]
In the 1990s and the early years of the new millennium, a comprehensive renovation of the Museum of Ethnology became necessary. Amongst other things, the cellars were adapted for storage, galleries were renovated and additional office rooms were built. In the course of the semi-privatisation of Austria's federal museums, the museum was incorporated into the museum group KHM-Museumsverband in 2001. In April 2013, the museum was renamed as Weltmuseum Wien. In November 2014, the museum closed for renovation and, in February 2015, the ground-breaking ceremony took place. [4] The museum re-opened on 25 October 2017, with 14 galleries and 5 temporary exhibitions.
Heldenplatz is a public space in front of the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria. Located in the Innere Stadt borough, the President of Austria resides in the adjoining Hofburg wing, while the Federal Chancellery is on adjacent Ballhausplatz.
The Natural History Museum Vienna is a large natural history museum located in Vienna, Austria.
The Hofburg is the former principal imperial palace of the Habsburg dynasty in Austria. Located in the centre of Vienna, it was built in the 13th century and expanded several times afterwards. It also served as the imperial winter residence, as Schönbrunn Palace was the summer residence. Since 1946, it is the official residence and workplace of the president of Austria.
The Austrian Crown Jewels are the regalia and vestments worn by the Holy Roman Emperor, and later by the Emperor of Austria, during the coronation ceremony and other state functions. The term refers to the following objects: the crowns, sceptres, orbs, swords, rings, crosses, holy relics and royal robes, as well as several other objects connected with the ceremony. The collection dates from the 10th to the 19th centuries, and it reflects more than a thousand years of European history. It is kept in the Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria.
The Austrian National Library is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in center of Vienna. Since 2005, some of the collections have been relocated within the Baroque structure of the Palais Mollard-Clary. Founded by the Habsburgs, the library was originally called the Imperial Court Library ; the change to the current name occurred in 1920, following the end of the Habsburg Monarchy and the proclamation of the Austrian Republic. The library complex includes four museums, as well as multiple special collections and archives.
The Museum of Military History – Military History Institute in Vienna is the leading museum of the Austrian Armed Forces. It documents the history of Austrian military affairs through a wide range of exhibits comprising, above all, weapons, armours, tanks, aeroplanes, uniforms, flags, paintings, medals and badges of honour, photographs, battleship models, and documents. Although the museum is owned by the Federal Government, it is not affiliated with the Federal museums but is organised as a subordinate agency reporting directly to the Ministry of Defence and Sports.
The Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology is a museum affiliated with Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1866, the Peabody Museum is one of the oldest and largest museums focusing on anthropological material, with particular focus on the ethnography and archaeology of the Americas. The museum is caretaker to over 1.2 million objects, some 900 feet (270 m) of documents, 2,000 maps and site plans, and about 500,000 photographs. The museum is located at Divinity Avenue on the Harvard University campus. The museum is one of the four Harvard Museums of Science and Culture open to the public.
Robert Freiherr von Heine-Geldern, known after 1919 as Robert Heine-Geldern, was an Austrian anthropologist, ethnologist, archaeologist and prehistorian who studied in particular the cultures and civilisations of Southeast Asia. He taught as a professor of ethnology and archaeology of India and Southeast Asia at the University of Vienna and, during his emigration from 1938 to 1949, in the United States. Heine-Geldern is considered a pioneer in the field of Southeast Asian Studies.
SMS Novara was a sail frigate of the Austro-Hungarian Navy most noted for sailing the globe for the Novara Expedition of 1857–1859 and, later for carrying Archduke Maximilian and wife Carlota to Veracruz in May 1864 to reign as Emperor and Empress of Mexico.
Heinrich Wawra Ritter von Fernsee was a Czech-Austrian ship surgeon, botanist and explorer.
The Art & History Museum is a public museum of antiquities and ethnographic and decorative arts located at the Parc du Cinquantenaire/Jubelpark in Brussels, Belgium. The museum is one of the constituent parts of the Royal Museums of Art and History (RMAH) and is one of the largest art museums in Europe. It was formerly called the Cinquantenaire Museum until 2018. It is served by the metro stations Schuman and Merode on lines 1 and 5.
Featherwork is the working of feathers into a work of art or cultural artifact. This was especially elaborate among the peoples of Oceania and the Americas, such as the Incas and Aztecs.
The Jüdisches Museum Wien, trading as Jüdisches Museum der Stadt Wien GmbH or the Jewish Museum Vienna, is a museum of Jewish history, life and religion in Austria. The museum is present on two locations, in the Palais Eskeles in the Dorotheergasse and in the Judenplatz, and has distinguished itself by a very active programme of exhibitions and outreach events highlighting the past and present of Jewish culture in Austria. The current director is Barbara Staudinger and the chief curator is Astrid Peterle.
Moctezuma's headdress is a featherwork headdress or military device which tradition holds belonged to Moctezuma II, the Aztec emperor at the time of the Spanish conquest. However, its provenance is uncertain, and even its identity as a headdress has been questioned. It is made of quetzal and other feathers with sewn-on gold detailing. It is now in the Weltmuseum Wien, and is a source of dispute between Austria and Mexico, as no similar pieces remain in Mexico.
The Imperial Treasury at the Hofburg Palace in Vienna, Austria contains a valuable collection of secular and ecclesiastical treasures covering over a thousand years of European history. The entrance to the treasury is at the Schweizerhof, the oldest part of the palace, which was rebuilt in the sixteenth century in the Renaissance style under Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I. The Imperial Treasury is affiliated with the Kunsthistorisches Museum, and houses in 21 rooms a collection of rare treasures that were compiled by the Imperial House of Habsburg over the course of centuries, including the Imperial Crown, Orb, and Sceptre of Austria, and the Imperial Regalia of the Emperors and Kings of the Holy Roman Empire, including the Imperial Crown of the Holy Roman Empire.
Xokonoschtletl Gómora is a Mexican dancer who performs Pre-Hispanic traditional music, a writer, lecturer, and civic activist. He was commissioned by the United Nations for the Frente Mexicano Pro Derechos Humanos to promote the protection of Mexican cultural heritage. He is best known for leading the Asociación Civil Internacional Yankuik Anahuak and because for over thirty years he has pushed for the return of a quetzal feather headdress known as Montezuma's headdress currently located in the Vienna Museum of Ethnology.
The Hofburg is a former Habsburg palace in Innsbruck, Austria, and considered one of the three most significant cultural buildings in the country, along with the Hofburg Palace and Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna. The Hofburg is the main building of a large residential complex once used by the Habsburgs that still includes the Noblewomen's Collegiate Foundation, the Silver Chapel, the Hofkirche containing Emperor Maximilian's cenotaph and the Schwarzen Mandern, the Theological University, the Tyrolean Folk Art Museum, Innsbruck Cathedral, the Congress, and the Hofgarten.
Mexican featherwork, also called "plumería", was an important artistic and decorative technique in the pre-Hispanic and colonial periods in what is now Mexico. Although feathers have been prized and feather works created in other parts of the world, those done by the amanteca or feather work specialists impressed Spanish conquerors, leading to a creative exchange with Europe. Featherwork pieces took on European motifs in Mexico. Feathers and feather works became prized in Europe. The "golden age" for this technique as an art form was from just before the Spanish conquest to about a century afterwards. At the beginning of the 17th century, it began a decline due to the death of the old masters, the disappearance of the birds that provide fine feathers and the depreciation of indigenous handiwork. Feather work, especially the creation of "mosaics" or "paintings" principally of religious images remained noted by Europeans until the 19th century, but by the 20th century, the little that remained had become a handcraft, despite efforts to revive it. Today, the most common feather objects are those made for traditional dance costumes, although mosaics are made in the state of Michoacán, and feather trimmed huipils are made in the state of Chiapas.
The Papyrus Collection of the Austrian National Library, also known as the Rainer Collection and Vienna Papyrus Collection, is a papyrus collection of the Austrian National Library at Hofburg palace in Vienna. It contains around 180,000 objects overall. It is one of the most significant collections in papyrology, containing writings documenting 3 millennia of the history of Egypt from 1500 BCE–1500 CE: Ancient Egypt, Hellenistic Egypt, Roman Egypt, and Egypt during Muslim rule. It includes a specialist library of around 19,500 books and journals as well. The Austrian National Library preserves and restores the stored papyri and facilitates scholarly research and publication based on these ancient documents.
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