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Eight unique Austrian museums you need to visit

Austria—especially Vienna—is world-renowned for its museums, each exploring thousands of years of art, history, culture, nature, or science.

Published: 28 March 2024 16:08 CET
Eight unique Austrian museums you need to visit
Burg Riergersburg, home of one of Austria's most colourful characters - 'Bad Lisl'. Photo: Leonhard Niederwimmer / Pixabay

However, where do you go after you’ve done the Kunsthistorisches Museum, the Albertina, and the other ‘big names’? 

Here are eight wonderfully unique museums across Austria that are well worth visiting and offer a unique perspective on Austria and Austrians. 

Crime Museum, Vienna

Buried deep in Vienna’s Leopoldstadt, in one of its oldest houses, visitors can submerge themselves in centuries of the capital’s seedy underworld at the Vienna Crime Museum. 

Amidst printed murder ballads, weapons that took the lives of innocents and other rather gruesome displays, the story of how law and order developed within the Austrian capital is told – with a bit of dry caustic wit and humour. 

One particularly morbid highlight is the skeleton of Theresia Kandl, a 19th-century murderess who was the first woman to be hanged at the city’s gallows. 

Funeral Museum, Vienna

Spend any time in Vienna, and you’ll realise that death is a part of life. 

That’s not to say that it’s hazardous – just that the Viennese have a particular relevance and fondness for the business of death, including funerals.

Therefore, it’s no surprise that Vienna has a museum dedicated to funerary culture at the city’s central cemetery.

A lively, interactive series of displays informs the visitor about how funerals and mourning have evolved over the centuries. There are also loads of interesting headstones, mourning gowns, and other trinkets on display. 

The museum is also known for its gift shop, full of delightfully morbid gifts—a Playmobil funeral hearse and skeleton mourners, for example! 

Dom Museum, Salzburg

Tucked within the cathedral museum in Salzburg is the ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’, first established by Prince Bishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau and greatly expanded by one of his successors, Max Gandolf von Kuenburg, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

A collection of artworks and ‘oddities’ was essential to reputation building for Early Modern rulers, and the Prince Bishops of Salzburg were some of the most powerful around. Therefore, the treasures on display needed to be second to none. 

The collection includes the relics of various saints (sometimes multiples of the same body parts), beautifully preserved coral, automata, and other weird and wonderful things. 

Knappenwelt Gurgtal, Tarrenz, Tyrol

A lot of Tyrol and Austria’s wealth originated from beneath the ground. Evidence of mining occurring over three thousand years ago has been uncovered in some areas.

Knappenwelt Gurgtal is an open-air museum that aims to show how silver, zinc, and other metals were mined in the Middle Ages. 

That’s not the museum’s star attraction, however. That would be the ‘Healer of Gurgtal‘, found nearby in 2008. 

This is the grave of a woman around forty years old who showed evidence of being a ‘wise woman’ who supplied remedies and cures. 

She may have aided the miners before her death during the Thirty Years’ War.

Schloss Eggenberg, Graz, Styria

This one almost feels like cheating. Schloss Eggenberg is more than one museum—it’s three, at least. 

The castle has been preserved as a fantastic example of how Austrian nobility embraced growing scientific knowledge in the sixteenth century, embedding it into their homes’ very art and fabric. 

Nothing is by accident; everything is planned and usually has an astronomical significance. 

The castle also houses the art gallery and coin collections of the Universalmuseum Joanneum, Styria’s central museum authority.  

The state’s archaeological museum is constructed beneath the beautiful gardens. You can find several unique ancient treasures there, such as the ‘Cult Wagon of Strettweg’. 

Burg Riegersburg, Riegersburg, Styria

Another castle, the imposing Burg Riegenburg, was once home to one of the most colourful characters in Austria’s history: Katharina Elisabeth von Galler, or ‘Bad Lisl’. 

At a time when women were not permitted the same rights as men, the seventeenth-century noblewoman refused to submit. She married three times and proved a terror to her husbands if they so much as lifted a finger to prevent her from ruling in her own right. 

Today, the castle’s museum is divided into three sections. 

The first tells the story of the castle and its rulers over the centuries, while the second deals with Burg Riegersburg’s role in witch trials during the lifetime of ‘Bad Lisl’. 

The third section is devoted to a display of weaponry and armour that would humble some state museums. 

Archaeological Park Carnuntum, Bruck an der Leitha, Lower Austria

Once upon a time, Austria was an integral part of the Roman Empire, known as the province of Pannonia – and the capital wasn’t Vienna, but the thriving city of Carnuntum. 

Once home to 50,000 inhabitants, the city was destroyed in the fourth century, only to be really excavated in the closing decades of the twentieth century.

Now, a vivid picture of life is displayed in locations across Bruck an der Leitha, including a dedicated museum and recreations of several buildings found there. 

An innovative aspect of the experience is the ‘Carnuntium’ App, which allows users to see the ruins as they would have appeared at the city’s height. 

Tyrolean Folk Art Museum, Innsbruck, Tyrol

Austrian folklore is a wild mix of magic, nature, and Christian belief, expressed through traditional handicrafts, songs, and dance. 

These traditions are showcased in the Tyrolean Folk Art Museum in central Innsbruck, a Tyrolean State Museum collection. 

Don’t go in thinking you’ll just be looking at cosy domestic artefacts; you’re far more likely to encounter ghosts, goblins, witches, and saints doing extraordinary deeds. 

Definitely one to spend hours enjoying – especially the rather creepy masks and costumes used in traditional festivals!

Is there a museum we should add to the list? Let us know in the comments section below. 

Member comments

  1. The Josephinum Medical History Museum with its collection of 18th century wax anatomical models. Works of art in themselves. Unique experience.

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Five offences you can be fined for in Austria’s great outdoors

Austria is famous for its beautiful nature, attracting people from all over the world. But while spending time outdoors, you need to follow certain rules if you do not want to end up paying high fines.

Published: 22 April 2024 13:43 CEST
Five offences you can be fined for in Austria's great outdoors

Austria is a great place for all nature lovers, with its beautiful mountains, forests, lakes, and famous national parks. However, while enjoying the outdoors, it is important to be aware of what you are not allowed to do. Here are five things that you should avoid if you do not want to end up paying heavy fines. 

Wild camping is not allowed

It might seem tempting to pitch your tent in a quiet place up a mountain or, perhaps, near a beautiful lake. But in Austria, it is important to remember that wild camping is in general prohibited, and you can only put up your tent in designated areas, such as camping sites.

If you do not follow these rules and get caught, you will be fined €5 to €500. If you violate these rules in a nature reserve, national park, or special protection area, you can be fined up to €14,500.

Wild camping is something that you should avoid while spending time in Austria. Photo by Kevin Ianeselli on Unsplash

You cannot make a fire in a forest without permission

If you do not have permission from the forest owner, whether it refers to the state or a private person, starting a fire in an Austrian forest is a very bad idea. It is illegal, and this rule covers not only the main forest area but also the “combat zone” around it, where the density of trees decreases, and even nearby areas if there is a risk of fire spreading.

If you violate this rule, you could be fined up to €3,630 or even spend a short time in jail. Forest protection officers are on the lookout for rule-breakers and can force you to leave the forest or even detain you.

READ ALSO: Four Austrian national parks worth paying a visit

Be careful when picking berries and mushrooms

If you want to pick berries and mushrooms in the forest, it is important to keep in mind that they usually belong to the forest owner. However, if the owner does not forbid the picking with a sign, it is usually okay for you to pick a bit, but not too much.

There are some rules regarding the amount that you can pick without permission. You cannot pick and bring home more than two kilograms of mushrooms in one day, and you are not allowed to create or join big mushroom or berry-picking events. Furthermore, you cannot pick anything from the forest and use it for selling.

Breaking these rules could get you in trouble. If you are caught in a big picking event without permission, you might have to pay a fine of up to €150 or even go to jail for a week.

In some places like national parks or nature reserves, there might be special rules about picking mushrooms, so if you want to pick something there, it is a good idea to check what is allowed with the local authorities.

You can pick berries in Austria, but not too much. Photo by Ron Lach on Pexels.

Do not take wood home from the forest

You can spend as much time as you want enjoying the forest, but you cannot just take wood home with you without permission. Trees and wood in the forest belong to the owner, so you need their permission before collecting any kind of wood, even fallen branches.

Taking wood without permission can get you in trouble. The forest owner could sue you for messing with their property or causing damage. The law also says that you are not allowed to take whole trees or damage trees, roots, or branches without permission. However, while it is generally not allowed to take wood, there are exceptions for small amounts, like a few branches, as long as it does not harm the tree.

Breaking these rules could mean getting fined up to €730 or even going to jail for a week. Forest protection officers can kick you out of the forest if you break the rules, report you to the authorities, or take away any wood you collected illegally.

You cannot bike everywhere

If you want to bike in the forest, remember that certain areas, such as fire-prone zones or areas with forestry infrastructure, can be restricted from access for safety and conservation reasons.

Unauthorised biking in forests can harm the environment. To stay on the safe side, you can choose to follow marked paths and signs.

If you get caught biking in an area where you are not allowed to do so, you might have to pay a fine ranging from €150 to €730.

READ NEXT: EXPLAINED: Everything you need to know about camping in Austria

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