Neue Burg - Teil der Wiener Hofburg — Attraction in Vienna

Following the enlargement of Vienna after the demolition of the city walls in the 1860s, the Hofburg had its last great expansion. An Imperial Forum (Kaiserforum) was planned, in which a two-winged structure reaching beyond the Ring Road, with the twin museums (Kunsthistorisches Museum and Naturhistorisches Museum) as flanks and terminating at the old Imperial Mews (the Hofstallungen, not to be confused with the much older Stallburg) of Fischer von Erlach. The project was led by Gottfried Semper and later by Karl Freiherr von Hasenauer. The museums were completed in 1891, but construction of the rest of the forum dragged on slowly and conflicted since because of rising costs and no real function could be found for the enormous construction project. In 1913, the south-west wing, the New Castle (Neue Burg), was completed. However, the Imperial Forum was never completed and remains a torso. The New Castle wing today houses a number of museums (the Ephesos Museum, the Collection of Arms and Armour, the Collection of Ancient Musical Instruments, and the Museum of Ethnology) as well as some reading rooms of the national library. The Hofburg Congress Centre is also...

History of imperial Europe has always been marked by a game of one-upmanship. Rules and Emperors sort to outdo one another and showcase a display of extravaganza by ordering projects such as the construction of Neue Burg which is meant to challenge the Louvre. This large project for the Emperor Franz Josef was never quite completed as only one of the building was built and became the last building to be built for the Austrian Empire before its collapse at the end of World War I. A few decades later, it was folded into another failed “empire” and its leader, Adolf Hilter famously stood at the balcony of the Neue Burg to address the sea of people on the Heldenplatz. My guide stood us at the center of Heldenplartz and helped us reimagine a large crowd around us as far as the eye can see, with large banners of the Nazi across the Neue Burg and what it must have been like when Hitler addressed the crowd among us. Today, the dark past has been replaced with a collection of museums inside...

As the museum is not open on Mondays, I was expecting all the tour groups and tourists to all be coming the next day, but when my family went to visit the Neue Burg today, we essentially had the Neue Burg museum completely to ourselves (perhaps the cold and rainy weather contributed to this?) and it was AWESOME!

The museum comprises of three sections: The Collection of Historic Musical Instruments, Collection of Arms and Armour, and the Ephesos Museum.

The interior of this museum is so gorgeous and it really contributes to making walking around the place so pleasant but the museum sections themselves are incredibly well curated in their own right. Every item is placed carefully and clearly a lot of care has gone into making sure every item is kept in pristine condition. It is very clear that this museum truly cares about the items that are in their possession and as a visitor it makes me feel like my visit (from halfway across the world) and ticket was...