Looking back on a 300-year history, making it one of the oldest auction houses in the world, Dorotheum is also one of the biggest and most significant. Thousands of pieces of art and antiques covering 40 art categories are examined and evaluated by competent experts with years of experience and then auctioned off at the uniquely magnificent Palais Dorotheum.

PRECIOUSNESS UNDER THE HAMMER

Founded in 1707 by Emperor Joseph I and by now an internationally renowned Viennese institution, Dorotheum also represents a piece of Austrian history. Thanks to a very active customer service, a fresh image and a strong international presence, Dorotheum has established itself as a hub for art connoisseurs and collectors.

No other auction house in the German-speaking world can boast a larger category variety, the most successful of them being the fine art category of painting: Contemporary Art, Modern, Old Masters, 19th Century Paintings are all offered during the four big auction weeks.

A MODERN AMBIENCE FOR THE ANTIQUE

These top-level auctions, the highlight of the year, have shaped Dorotheum’s impeccable reputation in the art world, not only for the paintings, jewelry and watches covering more than 40 art, antique and collector’s categories, but also for items like silver, Art Nouveau, design, porcelain, furniture, stamps, coins, medals, historical scientific instruments, globes, cars, vintage items, wines and much more. With branches and representative offices in Prague, Milan, Rome, Munich, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, Brussels, London and other cities, Dorotheum always satisfies the expectations and requests of its large international clientele.

Haus der Musik is infotainment, entertainment and edutainment in one; it opens up new approaches to music and soundscapes in an unconventional, experience-oriented manner. Haus der Musik provides visitors with completely new experiences and journeys of listening and deliberately departs from the way music is traditionally conveyed.

LISTENING WITH HEART AND MIND

Haus der Musik is a modern, interactive and immersive museum in downtown Vienna. It invites its visitors to go on a musical journey across 5,000 m², in which the fascinating world of music is made audible and visible in both real and virtual experiential rooms. Infotainment, edutainment and entertainment – these three principles define the overall concept of Haus der Musik. Here, experience and expertise are merged in a way that is just as impressive as it is pleasurable.

The exciting tour starts with the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, which was founded in this building in 1842, where historical gems from the archive are stored today. Here the interactive waltz dice game gives you the opportunity to compose your very own waltz.

The second floor, SONOTOPIA, is dedicated to the fascinating aspects of hearing – experiment at different terminals, marvel at gigantic instruments or design a unique sound creation in the Virtual Reality Experience SONOTOPIA LAB & UNIVERSE. At the zoo concert, children can have the frogs jumping to the beat.

EXPERIENCE THE GRAND MUSIC TRADITION TODAY

On the third floor, embark on a multifaceted journey through time to Vienna’s greatest composers, where you encounter Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert, Strauß, Mahler and Schönberg in multimedia exhibition areas. With NAMADEUS, transform your name into an original Mozart composition. Lastly, experience what is probably the most popular “signature” installation at Haus der Musik and conduct the famous Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra yourself with the “virtual composer” on the fourth floor. You dictate the rhythm and the tempo!

Founded in 1194 by Duke Leopold V for the purpose of striking Viennese pfennigs from the silver paid for the release of King Richard the Lionheart of England, the Austrian Mint is Vienna’s oldest business establishment.

THE STAMP OF HIGHEST STANDARDS

Behind the classic façade of the Austrian Mint‘s majestic home lies a state-of-the-art production plant. Here some 200 devoted and passionate staff members combine eight centuries of craftsmanship and tradition with some of the world’s leading coinmaking technology to create precious coins and medals that are renowned around the globe for innovation, quality and lasting value.

The Austrian Mint’s flagship product is the Vienna Philharmonic bullion coin. Produced in five different sizes, from one ounce to 1/25 of an ounce, the Vienna Philharmonic fits every pocket and occasion.

Investors, collectors and gift-givers all value the unique combination of its beautiful design and highest possible minting quality, which make it one of the world’s best-loved and best-selling bullion coins. Since it was first struck in 1989, on one side the coin’s award-winning design has featured a harmonious assortment of musical instruments from the world-famous orchestra. On the other, it shows the great organ of the Musikverein concert hall in Vienna, the orchestra’s home. Since 2008 Vienna Philharmonics have also been produced in pure silver.

The Austrian Mint may produce some of the world’s best-selling bullion coins, but first and foremost its duty is to produce the Republic of Austria’s euro circulation coins. It also supplies circulation coins and blanks to many countries worldwide, and its know-how and craftsmanship are manifested in an impressive range of collector coins, which are numismatic masterpieces in their own right.

MADE IN VIENNA, LOVED THE WORLD OVER

From the golden magic of Gustav Klimt’s timeless portrayals of women, to a thrilling silver odyssey through the land that time forgot, and the uniquely innovative shades of its silver niobium coins, to name but a few, the Austrian Mint produces unparalleled collector coins to suit all tastes.

A visit to the recently refurbished Austrian Mint shop is both a state-of-the-art retail experience to savor and one that will provide visitors with something very special in which to invest, to collect or to give.

MuseumsQuartier Wien is one of the world’s biggest modern and contemporary art and culture zones boasting museums, exhibition halls and event space. Featuring an enormous inner courtyard with restaurants, cafes and shops, the 90,000 square meter project in Vienna also functions as an urban habitat as well as a haven for culture and relaxation.

A WHOLE WORLD, IN THE MIDDLE OF THE CITY

MQ is a space for the performing arts, architecture, music, fashion, theater, dance, literature as well as children and digital culture. Prestigious museums like the Leopold Museum, the museum moderner kunst stifung ludwig wien (MUMOK – Museum of Modern Art, Ludwig Foundation, Vienna), the Kunsthalle Wien and the Architekturzentrum Wien (Vienna Center for Architecture) can be found here as well as the Tanzquartier Wien (Dance Quarter Vienna), a center for contemporary dance, and Halle E+G, an event space for music and theater productions. ZOOM Kindermuseum (ZOOM Museum for Children), Dschungel Wien –Theater for Young Audience – and wienXtrakinderinfo offer exciting activities for children and teens.

Occupying about 7,000 square meters of space, quartier21 is an open infrastructure for 21st-century art and culture offering space and support to small and medium-sized cultural initiatives within the MuseumsQuartier. It encompasses about 50 cultural initiatives, with core focuses on digital culture, fashion, and design. The spectrum of activities ranges from media art, conceptual art, and sound art to game culture, street art, fashion, design, vvvvgraphy, and literature. New subject areas and innovative approaches to production and presentation position the cultural initiatives in quartier21 outside of the traditional museum landscape.

FROM THE BLAZE OF TRADITION THE FLAME OF THE PRESENT

Since fall 2009, quartier21 has been presenting multinational exhibitions and projects as part of the freiraum quartier21 international program series in an exhibition space by the same name. The quartier21 partners expand their international reputation and networks through the artists-in-residence. Each year, some 40 international artists are invited through the studio program to live in the MuseumsQuartier about two months and carry out projects with the resident cultural initiatives in quartier21. Since the program was first launched in 2002, over 400 artists have already lived and worked in one of the initially four and now eight art studios in the MQ complex.

There aren’t many cultural institutions in the world that combine tradition, history and the pursuit of perfection as consistently as the Spanish Riding School in Vienna. Dating back 450 years, the High School of classical horsemanship and those famous white stallions are as fascinating a spectacle today as they used to be during imperial times.

BREATHTAKING DISCIPLINE, MOVING BEAUTY

The magical name of Lipizzaner doesn’t just describe horses belonging to the oldest cultural breed in Europe, it is also synonymous with the Spanish Riding School, one of the world’s most fascinating and unique cultural institutions, which strives to be safeguarded as well as perceived and made accessible as a living piece of heritage.

The Winter Riding School, part of the Wiener Hofburg (Vienna Imperial Palace), was built between 1729 and 1735 by Joseph Emanuel Fischer von Erlach under Emperor Charles VI and counts as a masterpiece of late Baroque architecture. The magnificent building with its inimitable atmosphere has not only been but is still used as a riding arena, but also as a ball and concert location, hosting for example the premiere of G.F. Handel’s Oratorium. In addition, the stunning building has already acted as the seat of the Wiener Börse (Vienna Stock Exchang) and as the Österreichische Lotterien (Austrian Lottery) headquarters.

Here, in the most beautiful riding arena in the world, guests can experience the perfect synergy between horse and rider. The presentation of the stallions represents a unique and incomparable highlight of Austrian culture. The Spanish Riding School’s diverse program makes it an unforgettable part of every visit to Vienna.

REAL AUSTRIAN SHOWPIECE

The Federal Stud Farm in Piber, where the Lipizzaners are born and raised, aims to safeguard Lipizzaner breeding for the long term. It is definitely worth a visit!

photo credits: Stefan Seelig, Julie Brass, René van Bakel

In 1498, Holy Roman Emperor Maximilian moved his entire court, lock, stock, and music chapel to Vienna. He gave specific instructions for there to be six boys among the court musicians. This was, as it were, the foundation of the Vienna Chapel Imperial (Wiener Hofmusikkapelle), the Imperial Boys´ Choir (Hofsängerknaben), and in consequence, of the Vienna Boys´ Choir (Wiener Sängerknaben).

AN ICON TAKES THE WORLD’S HEARTS BY STORM

In 1918, after the collapse of the Habsburg Empire, the Austrian government took over the Imperial Opera, its orchestra and the adult choir, but not the boys‘ choir. The Vienna Boys´ Choir owes it survival to Josef Schnitt, who was made Dean of the Imperial Chapel in 1921. The former court choir boys became the Vienna Boys´ Choir; the imperial uniform was replaced by the choir´s trademark sailor suit, then the height of boys´ fashion.

The choir´s repertoire covers everything from medieval to contemporary music, classical choral favourites, world music, film music, and pop. An important part of the curriculum are the in-house productions of children´s operas.

Today there are around 100 choristers between the ages of ten and fourteen, divided into four touring choirs. The choirs give around 300 concerts and performances each year in front of almost half a million people. Each group spends nine to eleven weeks of the school year on tour. They visit virtually all European countries, and they are frequent guests in Asia, Australia and the Americas – hence the loving epithet “Austrian Ambassadors”.

FINEST NUANCES, SINCE 1498

Together with members of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and members of the State Opera Chorus, the Vienna Boys´Choir maintains the tradition of the imperial musicians: as Vienna Chapel Imperial (Hofmusikkapelle), they provide the music for the Sunday Mass in Vienna´s Imperial Chapel, as they have done since 1498.

You can experience the Vienna Boys´ Choir every Sunday from September to June at the Imperial Chapel (Wiener Hofburgkapelle), and every Friday afternoon from May to June and from September to October in their own concert hall, MuTh. Watch out for the choir´s special holiday concerts – A Vienna Boys´ Choir Christmas at MuTh.

The Wiener Symphoniker has been the beating heart of the classical music metropolis of Vienna for over 120 years. The world-famous orchestra shapes and defines the unique sound culture of its hometown and manages, to combine the past, present and future like no other orchestra.

It was no coincidence that the Wiener Symphoniker was founded in 1900 at the dawn of a new century. The orchestra, which still transports the unmistakable sound of its homeland into the world playing old and new pieces, has been a true musical pioneer from the very beginning. The Wiener Symphoniker was the first in the Austrian capital to present all of Beethoven’s symphonies in one series, while also rapidly establishing itself as one of the most important orchestras in Europe in terms of world premieres.

WHERE THE MUSIC PLAYS

Anton Bruckner’s symphony, Arnold Schönberg’s Gurre-Lieder, Maurice Ravel’s Concerto for the Left Hand, Franz Schmidt’s The Book with Seven Seals and many other groundbreaking pieces were premiered by the Wiener Symphoniker. In doing so, the orchestra paved the way for completely new soundscapes, making them accessible to the general public. To this day, the Wiener Symphoniker places great importance on working with contemporary composers and is one of the most prominent driving forces in contemporary music. And this is appreciated by conductors too.

The Wiener Symphoniker has been conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler, Herbert von Karajan, Wolfgang Sawallisch and Georges Prêtre – all of them visionaries with a lasting impact on the future of the global classical music scene. And the guest conductors include greats such as Lorin Maazel, Zubin Mehta, Claudio Abbado, Carlos Kleiber and Sergiu Celibidache.

DEEP ROOTS

Although passionate about progression, the Wiener Symphoniker has always been characterized by its down-to-earth approach and proximity to the audience. With their “folk concerts” in Vienna’s Volksgarten and the legendary workers’ symphony concerts, from the very beginning they ensured that classical music was no longer reserved for the elite. Today, the orchestra performs its Grätzl (neighborhood) concerts at unusual locations in all of Vienna’s districts, filling every corner of the metropolis with musical life.