Museum im Schottenstift

The Museum in the Schottenstift is housed in the former prelature of the Benedictine monastery in Vienna's Inner City. The abbey was founded in 1155 by Duke Henry II Jasomirgott, who summoned Irish-Scottish monks to Vienna to strengthen learning and administration in his new capital. Ever since, the monastery has been an important cultural and historical site, with a history stretching from its medieval founding through the Melk Reform to the present day. A visit to the museum offers insight into the monastery's rich past and its significance for the city of Vienna.

At the heart of the exhibition is the Vienna Schottenaltar, an important work of the late Gothic period created from 1469 onward by the Master of the Vienna Schottenaltar. This winged altarpiece long served as the high altar of the Schottenkirche and is known today not only for its art-historical quality but also as a valuable historical source, since it shows detailed and topographically accurate views of Vienna and Krems. The museum's painting collection focuses on early modern Flemish, Dutch, and Austrian painting as well as on Viennese Biedermeier. You can admire works by renowned artists such as Peter Paul Rubens, Tobias Pock, and Franz Anton Maulbertsch, depicting religious scenes, portraits, landscapes, and still lifes. A particular highlight is the Baroque high altar painting "Heavenly Glory" by Joachim von Sandrart in the Prelates' Hall.

Besides the fine arts, the museum presents exhibits from the abbey's various collections, including furniture, tapestries, liturgical objects, manuscripts, and printed works. A documentation of the monastery's history and its affiliated parishes, along with a natural history cabinet, rounds out the offering. For a complete impression of the monastery's cultural treasures, the Neoclassical library, designed by Joseph Kornhäusel, is also well worth seeing, though it can only be visited on guided tours. The museum thus combines the religious tradition of the Benedictine order with Vienna's rich art and cultural history.