The building itself
Dark basalt with almost no windows, lit inside by skylights — a deliberate contrast that prepares you for the contents.
Andrzej Otrębski — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Ralf Roletschek — CC BY 3.0 · MuseumsQuartier Wien, Foto: Thomas Meyer Photography — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Steven Lek — CC BY-SA 4.0
The dark stone block in the middle of the MuseumsQuartier: the Museum of Modern Art, its building an architectural statement in itself — grey-black basalt with almost no windows, standing in deliberate opposition to the white building opposite. Inside are five floors of art made after 1945: American pop art, Fluxus, conceptual work, and Viennese Actionism, the Austrian movement that was among Europe's most provocative in the 1960s. Displays rotate constantly, so what hangs today is not necessarily what someone saw last year. This is not a museum for classical beauty, and it is honest about that. But it is the best place in Vienna to see the city's other face — the one not content with empire and waltzes. Go in if contemporary art matters to you, and skip it guilt-free if it doesn't.
Dark basalt with almost no windows, lit inside by skylights — a deliberate contrast that prepares you for the contents.
Documentation of a provocative 1960s Austrian movement — a part of Vienna's history a guidebook rarely mentions.
American and European work from the sixties and seventies — the easiest way in for a first-time contemporary museum visitor.
Museumsplatz, MuseumsQuartier, Vienna
MuseumsQuartierThese were baroque imperial stables with room for thousands of horses, converted1 minute walk4.5
Kunsthalle WienA contemporary art institution inside Vienna's MuseumsQuartier complex, and a Ku2 minutes walk4.3
Leopold MuseumA collection built over half a century by a Viennese eye doctor, Rudolf Leopold,2 minutes walk4.8
MQ LibelleA viewing platform on the roof of the Leopold Museum in Vienna's MuseumsQuartier2 minutes walk4.5
Natural History Museum, ViennaThe twin of the Kunsthistorisches: an identical building facing it across the sq3 minutes walk4.9Honestly, no. Vienna offers plenty closer to your taste — the Leopold, the Belvedere, the Kunsthistorisches. Keep mumok for a second visit or for someone who genuinely cares.
An hour covers a quick pass through two floors, two for a full visit. The museum is vertical, moving between levels by lift or internal stairs.