Explore Vienna

The Secession Building is an exhibition hall for contemporary art, completed in 1898 by Joseph Maria Olbrich for the Vienna Secession artists' association. A dome of gilded laurel leaves crowns the white cube, above the motto 'Der Zeit ihre Kunst, der Kunst ihre Freiheit'. The basement shows Gustav Klimt's Beethoven Frieze of 1902.

The Austrian Parliament Building on the Ringstrasse is the seat of the National Council and the Federal Council. Theophil Hansen designed it in Greek Revival style, built from 1874 to 1883, with the Pallas Athena Fountain in front. After a renovation it reopened in 2023 with a visitor centre, guided tours and public galleries for sittings.

The Karlskirche on Karlsplatz is a Baroque church that Emperor Charles VI vowed during the plague of 1713 and dedicated to Saint Charles Borromeo. Built from 1716 to 1737 to plans by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, it combines a green dome, a Greek portico and two columns with spiral reliefs; inside is Johann Michael Rottmayr's dome fresco.

Kunsthalle Wien is the City of Vienna's exhibition house for international contemporary art, opened in 1992 in a temporary container building by Adolf Krischanitz at Karlsplatz. It has no collection of its own and shows changing solo and thematic exhibitions at two sites, in the MuseumsQuartier on Museumsplatz and in a glass pavilion at Karlsplatz.

Vienna City Hall is the Gothic Revival seat of the mayor and of the city and state government, built from 1872 to 1883 to designs by Friedrich von Schmidt. Its 98-metre central tower carries the Rathausmann, a copper standard-bearer in armour. The square in front hosts seasonal events, and the city runs guided tours of the interior.

The Leopold Museum in Vienna's MuseumsQuartier opened in 2001 to show the collection of Rudolf and Elisabeth Leopold, more than 5,000 works gathered over five decades. Its focus is Austrian art of the first half of the 20th century, with a large group of works by Egon Schiele and paintings by Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka and Richard Gerstl.

Mumok, the Museum moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Wien, is a museum of modern and contemporary art in the MuseumsQuartier. Since 2001 it has occupied a dark stone-clad block by Ortner & Ortner, and its collection of about 10,000 works includes Warhol, Picasso, Beuys, Lichtenstein and a large holding of Viennese Actionism.

The Naschmarkt is Vienna's largest permanent market, stretching about 1.5 kilometres along the Wienzeile above the vaulted Wien River. Rows of fixed stalls sell fruit, vegetables, spices, cheese, fish and delicacies, between small restaurants and bars. It has been called the Naschmarkt since around 1820, and a flea market fills its southern end on Saturdays.

The Votivkirche is a neo-Gothic church beside the University of Vienna, built from 1856 to 1879 to designs by Heinrich von Ferstel as thanks for Emperor Franz Joseph's survival of an assassination attempt in 1853. Its museum in the raised oratory shows liturgical objects, banners and the carved Antwerp Passion Altar of around 1500.

The Sigmund Freud Museum occupies the building at Berggasse 19 in Vienna's Alsergrund district, where Freud lived and practised until he emigrated in 1938. Founded in 1971, it covers his life and work and the history of psychoanalysis, with original rooms, documents and personal objects.

The Lower Belvedere is the Baroque palace that Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt built for Prince Eugene of Savoy from about 1712 to 1716 at the foot of the Belvedere gardens on the Rennweg. Its state rooms, the adjoining Orangery and the Palace Stables now hold the Belvedere museum's temporary exhibitions and its medieval art.

KunstHausWien is a museum in Vienna's Landstraße district designed by the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser, who rebuilt an 1892 Thonet furniture factory between 1989 and 1991 with uneven floors, tiled columns and planted facades. The two lower floors hold a permanent exhibition of his work, and the upper floors show changing exhibitions.

The Hundertwasserhaus is a municipal apartment building at the corner of Kegelgasse and Löwengasse in Vienna's third district, built from 1983 to 1985 to the concept of the artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser with the architects Josef Krawina and Peter Pelikan. Its facade has colourful irregular patches, onion domes and trees growing from the terraces.

The Prater is a public park of about 6 km² in Vienna's Leopoldstadt district, a former imperial hunting ground opened to the public by Emperor Joseph II in 1766. The chestnut-lined Hauptallee runs about 4.4 km from Praterstern to the Lusthaus, and at its northern end lies the Wurstelprater amusement park with the Giant Ferris Wheel.

The Upper Belvedere is the larger of the two Baroque palaces built for Prince Eugene of Savoy, designed by Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt and completed in 1723 above a terraced garden. It houses the Belvedere's collection of Austrian art from the Middle Ages to the present, including Gustav Klimt's The Kiss and works by Schiele and Kokoschka.

The Wiener Riesenrad is a 64.75-metre Ferris wheel at the entrance of the Prater in Leopoldstadt, built in 1897 by the English engineer Walter Basset for the golden jubilee of Emperor Franz Joseph I. Damaged in the Second World War, it was rebuilt with 15 of its original 30 cabins, which give views over the city.

Madame Tussauds Vienna is a wax museum on the Riesenradplatz in the Prater, opened on 1 April 2011 and run by Merlin Entertainments. More than 90 figures on three floors are grouped into themed rooms, from Maria Theresa, Mozart and Sigmund Freud to Austrian athletes, film actors and pop musicians, with a section on Empress Sisi.

Belvedere 21 is the Belvedere's venue for contemporary art, film and music, in a steel-and-glass pavilion designed by Karl Schwanzer for Expo 58 in Brussels and rebuilt in Vienna's Schweizergarten. Remodelled by Adolf Krischanitz in 2009–2011, it shows changing exhibitions of Austrian and international art and hosts screenings and concerts.

The Museum of Military History occupies a brick building in the Arsenal designed by Theophil Hansen and completed in 1856, the oldest purpose-built museum in Austria. Run by the Ministry of Defence, it traces Austrian military history with weapons, uniforms, tanks and paintings, including the car in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot in Sarajevo in 1914.

The Schlumberger Kellerwelten are the vaulted cellars of the Schlumberger sparkling-wine house on Heiligenstädter Straße in Döbling, a company founded by Robert Schlumberger in 1842. Tours of 30 to 45 minutes, with an audio guide in eight languages, explain the traditional bottle-fermentation method and end with a tasting.