Military Museum

The Vienna Arsenal is a huge industrial complex that once supplied one of the largest European armies. Unlike the Arsenale in Venice, it has no ancient origins, having been established in 1849 on the initiative of young Emperor Franz Joseph I. The architects, the Dane Theophil Hansen (1813-91) and Ludwig Forster (1797-1863), designed a spectacular main block in Rundbogenstil (round arch style), with dramatic polychromatic effects. The largest building in the complex is a crenellated 36-bay engineering shop.

 

Part of the site is occupied by the Austrian Military Museum whose displays illustrate the military history of the Habsburg Empire from c. 1600 until 1918, and the subsequent history of Austria. Exhibits include guns, ranging from 16th century bronze cannon to artillery pieces of the Cold War era, and one of the most significant vehicles in the history of Europe, the motor car in which the Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife were shot in Sarajevo in 1914.

Military Museum
Heeresgeschichtliches Museum Militärhistoriches Institut
Arsenal Objekt 1
1030 Vienna
Austria
+43 (0) 1 - 795610
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