Albertina Museum, Vienna, Austria April 2019
One surprise discovery on my mostly rainy Vienna holiday was the small Albertina Museum. Located in the city center, it is raised up above most of the surrounding buildings which makes sense because it was originally built on some of the old city fortifications. Like other palaces, it grew over time to reach its present size and style. The museum is primarily known for its collection of world-class prints and drawings. Started by Duke Albert of Saxen-Teschen in the 18th century and continued by his heirs, the collection grew considerably over time, hence the building's name "Albertina" for the founder.
In early 1919, the new extreme socialist government of Austria confiscated, without compensation, both the building and the collection belonging to the Archduke Friedrich and evicted him. In 1920 the collection of prints and drawings was united with the collection of the former Imperial court library. In 1921 the building was renamed The Albertina.
(Wikipedia) I am no royalist, but wow that was cold. "Sorry, I know your family has been collecting this stuff for years, but now it is owned by the government". At least the collection is in the public domain now and even though the Albertina building suffered damage in WWII bombings, the works therein were saved. Now everyone can enjoy this quirky, yet magnificent collection of a branch of the Hapsburg family. I went on one of the cold, rainy days of my Vienna vacation. The museum was the usual "palace cum museum" so there was much to "ooh and ahh" in both the building itself as well as the collection. My enduring memory is of the Da Vinci sketches as studies for the Last Supper. There was also a lot of portraiture of normal people that caught an amazing array of facial expressions in an era where only famous people were being painted in very staged and unnatural settings. My brain was full of art, so after the museum I went to eat some comfort food. Käsespätzle with bacon at 7Stern Bräu accompanied by good local beer might just might have washed away any illusion that I could be a distant relative of Duke Albert of Saxony.
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