If there is one thing the people owe to the Hapsburgs it is the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Due to their personal efforts, this museum, the Museum of History, is among the best in Europe. It houses a wealth of sculpture, applied art materials, coins and one of the biggest art collections in the world. The building, itself, also qualifies as an art piece. The decor is by a Hunagrian painter, Michael Munkácsy. H eis responsible for the trompe l’oeil ceiling on the main staircase.
When you come to the Museum of History, admire, first, the architectural style of the duo of Gottfried Semper and Karl Hausenauer. Next, move on to the ground floor. Here, you will find sculpture and selections of the applied arts from the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans as well as from the Near East and even Europe. If you are interested in coins, head to the second floor. The collection will impress you. Yet, one of the main reasons people come to the Museum of History is the Art collection. Here, you can see Hunters in the snow by Peter Brughel the Elder (1565), Vermeer’s The Artist’s Studio and Portrait of the Infanta Margarita Teresa by Diego Velazquez.