Naturhistorisches Museum, Wien (Vienna), Austria

The Naturhistorisches Museum, or Natural History Museum, in Vienna, Austria, is one of the oldest and most important museums of natural history in the world. The collections were started over 250 years ago, and the current building, shown above, was opened to the public in 1889.

Here is a painting of Kaiser Franz I Stephan Von Lothringen examining specimens from the collections in the late 18th century.



And below the painting some of the original specimens from the collection that are displayed within the painting.



The mineral galleries are arranged primarily in systematic order in original 19th century wood and glass cabinets and contain a significant number of specimens dating back more than a hundred years, in some cases significantly more.



Here's another view of the wall cabinets and the specimen systematic display.



This specimen of Bismuth, and a larger one on display elsewhere within the gallery, were returned from South America in the 16th century.



Here is some Irish gold.



And, returning to Bismuth, a Cornish (UK) Bismuth specimen.



Along one wall of one of the gallery rooms is a display of sawn blocks of decorative stones used in the construction of the great buildings of Vienna.



Other walls carry more modern cabinets, some with more temporary displays. Here I am looking at part of the display of minerals/gemstones and similar insects that was recently displayed at the Munich Show, and reported on in various mineral magazines.



A large amethyst specimen, from Brazil, sits on the floor in one gallery room. The excellent quality of this Brazilian amethyst may be connected to the fact that this was obtained by the museum in 1904.





Returning to the cabinets, an unusual English variety of quartz, this is called Babel Quartz, or Babylonquartz. The stepped pattern on the crystals is said to recall the shape of the stepped sides of the Tower of Babylon of Christian mythology.



Another European classic, this time the "eisenblüte", or Floss Ferri, form of aragonite, from Styrian Erzberg, Eisenerz, Styria, Austria



And, from the same area, some excellent cinnabar crystals in dolomite.



Another nice discovery was this specimen of satin spar (the original calcite variety) from Alston in Cumbria, England. This material was exhausted in the first few years of the 19th century, and is rarely seen these days.



Of course, classic Habachtal emerald crystals in matrix were on display.



From the Falkenstein District, Schwaz, Tyrol, Austria, this nice larger specimen with malachite



A large Bleiberg Wulfenite



And this is interesting, also from Bleiberg, anhydrite as a gangue mineral with galena and sphalerite.



The museum also has an excellent display of cut gemstones of unusual gem minerals.

For example:









.. and ekanite - a radioactive gemstone!



This ornate crafted arrangement of green silk leaves (faded due to the passage of time) and gemstone flowers was a gift in 1760 from Maria Theresia to her husband, Kaiser Franz I.



The museum has one of the largest meteorite galleries in the world, with an impressive selection of meteorites of all types.



They also have within this gallery a piece of the moon rock returned by an Apollo mission as a gift from the USA to the nation of Austria.



Outside of the mineral galleries are extensive fossil, dinosaur, fish, insect, bird, and animal galleries.



They also have some microscopes set up where you can examine mostly biological samples close-up.



The upper floor houses the biological collections, and is reached by the grand central staircase, surrounded by the opulent 19th century decoration that you would expect for a royal museum.



The NHM is open every day except Tuesday. It costs 10 euros to enter, and you can find out more by visiting their website.

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