Narrenturm

The Narrenturm (Fools' Tower) in Vienna's Alsergrund district is an architecturally unique building constructed between 1783 and 1784 under Emperor Joseph II. Originally conceived as a public psychiatric institution, the five-story circular building housed people with mental illness until 1869. Its unusual round shape, about 40 meters (131 feet) in diameter, with a central courtyard divided by a middle wing for the guards, earned the structure the popular nickname "Kaiser Joseph's Gugelhupf" (after a ring-shaped cake). The exact origin of the design is disputed among historians; while some sources name the court architect Isidore Canevale or the master builder Joseph Gerl, it is often suspected that Emperor Joseph II himself drew up the plans, possibly to build the isolation of patients into the structure as a therapeutic principle.

After it closed as an asylum, the building was used for various purposes before being handed over in 1971 to the Pathological-Anatomical Collection, which has been part of the Natural History Museum Vienna since 2012. Today you can experience the tower's historic fabric, which was restored in a comprehensive renovation in the 2010s. The facade, with its characteristic rusticated plasterwork, and the narrow cell structure recall the era when up to 250 patients were housed here in small, barred chambers. Inside, you'll find remnants of the original furnishings, such as iron restraint rings and narrow windows that reflect the building's former character as a sealed-off institution.

The building is considered an important site in the history of medicine, as it was one of the earliest facilities built exclusively for the treatment of mental illness. Today the collection in the tower includes not only historical documents but also a world-renowned collection of medical wax moulages used for teaching. The Narrenturm thus stands not only as a testament to Josephine health care reform but also as a memorial to the development of psychiatry in Europe, where the shift from mere confinement to medical care and more humane methods of treatment took place.