Haus der Geschichte Österreich

The House of Austrian History stands in the Neue Burg wing of the Hofburg palace in central Vienna. This modern museum explores the country’s 20th- and 21st-century past through changing displays. Monika Sommer-Sieghart, a historian, leads the institution since its opening in November 2018. The building itself is part of the vast Hofburg complex that has grown over centuries around the old imperial residence. Its location places it beside the world-famous Kunsthistorisches Museum and the State Hall of the Austrian National Library. Visitors enter through the same monumental courtyard used by the emperor’s court. The museum occupies the former garden rooms on the mezzanine floor beneath the Corps de Logis. The museum is worth the journey because it fills a long-standing gap in the national memory landscape. After the Second World War, only a single small room with 43 objects ever opened under President Karl Renner, and later efforts in the 1990s and early 2000s failed to gain traction. The current project finally took shape after federal governments repeatedly promised such a museum from 2000 onward. International bodies like the Council of Europe had already urged member states to create history museums in the 1990s. The building now offers a permanent exhibition on the Republic and changing shows on key episodes. Inside, the permanent display spreads over 1 870 square metres of light-filled galleries. Visitors follow a chronological path from the First Republic through the Dollfuss-Schuschnigg dictatorship to the Second Republic and European integration. The rooms open onto views of the inner courtyard and the Ringstrasse. Temporary exhibitions occupy additional spaces on the same floor. The setting combines modern design with historic architecture, creating a quiet space for reflection on recent history.