Not far from Karlskirche stands a modern glass-clad building. It houses the Museum of the History of Vienna - a kind of monument to the city's birth and development. Its collection features artifacts illustrating the history of the Austrian capital from ancient times onward.
The first floor is devoted to the Roman and medieval periods, with authentic items of clothing and household utensils from that time that transport us back to the distant days when Vienna did not yet exist, and the settlement of Vindobona stood on this site.
The second floor is devoted to Baroque painting. Here there is also an impressively large model of mid-19th-century Vienna.
The third floor displays artifacts from the 19th-20th centuries and another model of Vienna, on which you can already make out the Natural History Museum and the Museum of Art History.
In addition, the museum displays Karl Lueger's mayoral chair, made from a sketch by Otto Wagner, a sculpture of a nude Beethoven, and other unusual and noteworthy exhibits. There are also several recreated apartment interiors, and it is quite fascinating to see how city residents lived in earlier times.
