Ephesos Museum — Attraction in Vienna

Planning of the Ringstrasse began in 1857 and included the project to bring together and show the imperial collections in a grand new building featuring state-of-the-art technical and display facilities; it took, however, another ten years until the competition to design the new museums was actually held. The architects who participated in 1867 were Hansen, Löhr, Ferstel and Hasenauer, all of whom worked in Vienna. When jury and patron failed for months to agree on a winner, Gottfried Semper, the internationally-renowned architect known for his museum designs, was called in as an advisor in 1868. The Emperor then decided to commission Semper to alter and complete the plans initially presented by Hasenauer. But he also enlarged them – his designs were informed by urban planning in ancient Rome – to create what was known as the “imperial forum”: He envisaged an additional – also symmetrical - pair of buildings aligned with the two museums, each of which featured a semi-circular façade. These two buildings were to flank the Hofburg’s Leopoltinische Trakt (the wing of the old palace erected under Emperor Leopold) for which Semper planned a modern façade and that would house the throne room. However, only the two museums and the part of the “Neue Burg” (new palace) facing the Burggarten (palace garden) were realised. Work on the museums commenced in 1871 and twenty years later, in 1891, they were formally opened to the public. Semper had moderated Hasenauer’s original design for the façades and they now feature a complex art-historical programme of sculptures and reliefs. The building’s internal structure combines two architectural traditions: entrance hall, staircase and cupola hall form a dramatic unit that celebrates the imperial patron and his predecessors. An additional elegant feature is the circular opening in the ceiling of the entrance hall that offers visitors their first glimpse of the cupola hall. Ascending the stairs, visitors pass Antonio Canova’s “Theseus Slaying the Centaur” on their way to the cupola hall, the apex of imperial display. Along this central axis a wealth of neo-baroque decorations create one of the most solemn and splendid interiors of late-nineteenth-century Vienna, probably unrivalled in any other...

Ephesus Museum Vienna

The Ephesus Museum Vienna is located in Vienna, the capital of Austria, as a department of the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna Museum of Art History) and exhibits ancient artifacts brought from the ancient city of Ephesus in Turkey.

Abdul Hamid II's decision to allow the Ephesus artifacts to be transported to Vienna can be explained by the political and economic conditions of the time. The desire to strengthen diplomatic relations, secure economic benefits, and engage in cultural cooperation with Europe influenced this decision. However, these permissions reflect the Ottoman Empire's weak awareness of preserving its cultural heritage and Europe's colonialist approach to archaeological artifacts. With the establishment of the Republic of Turkey, the export of such artifacts was prohibited after 1923, and stricter policies were adopted for the protection of cultural heritage.

The Ephesus Museum Vienna officially opened to the public in 1978 in the Neue Burg section of the Kunsthistorisches Museum (Vienna Museum of Art History) in the Hofburg Palace. However, the artifacts brought from Ephesus were transported to Austria between 1896 and 1906 and stored in warehouses or displayed in temporary exhibitions for extended periods. In 1978, a specially designed exhibition space was created for these artifacts, and the museum took its...

The collection of the Ephesus Museum, which has existed since the end of the 19th century, is part of the collection of antiquities of the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna. Since December 1978, it has had independent premises in the Neue Burg. Before the Ephesus Museum was established, the existing exhibits were temporarily displayed in several places, including the Theseus Temple in the Volksgarten.

Located on Turkey's Aegean coast, Ephesus was one of the largest cities in the ancient world and is now one of Turkey's most visited tourist destinations. Since 1895, interrupted only by the two World Wars, Austrian archaeologists conducted research in the ruins of the city under the direction of the Austrian Archaeological Institute (ÖAI). Sultan Abdülhamid II gave Emperor Franz Josef some of the objects found as a gift, thus making possible the founding of the internationally important collection of the Ephesus Museum. Due to the Turkish Antiquities Law, no new objects reached Vienna after 1907. Another museum dedicated to the ancient city is located near the...