NATURHISTORISCHES MUSEUM
The emperor loved his collection and was said to have
formed by a passion for the collection of famous visited her every day. He spared no means in his quest
monarchs and their endless thirst for knowledge of to expand it. For example, it is reported that he paid a
famous scientists and the spirit of adventure of huge sum of 4,000 guilders for a very rare and
travelling explorers. precious street snail (Epitonium scalare) - equivalent
to an annual salary to one of the oldest members of
The earliest exhibits of the collection of the Natural
his court.
History Museum in Vienna are more than 250 years old.
It was Emperor Franz I Stephen of Lorraine, the After the premature death of the Emperor Maria
husband of Maria Theresa, who in 1750 bought Theresa opened the collection to the general public.
everything that was at that time the largest and most Thus, she created the first museum in accordance with
famous collection of natural history in the world with the principles and visions of the Enlightenment.
the Florentine scientist and scientist Jean de Baille. This
was the first step towards the creation of the Museum The Museum of Natural History and the Museum of
of Natural History in Vienna. Fine Arts were commissioned by the Emperor Franz
Joseph I (1830-1916) and designed by architects
The Bailu collection numbered 30,000 objects, including Gottfried Semper (1803-1879) and Karl Gasnauer
rare fossils, snails, mussels and corals, as well as (1833-1894). Two museums have identical exteriors and
precious minerals and p recious stones. Unlike many are located opposite each other.
other "Wunderkammern" wards, collected by members
of the nobility at that time, this collection was classified
according to scientific criteria even at this early stage.
The history of the Museum of Natural History Vienna is