Art History Museum

The Art History Museum houses some extremely old artifacts, some from nearly five thousand years ago. Like most museums around this area, it's original purpose was to house art pieces from the Habsburg family. It has many outstanding original paintings, as well as artifacts from ancient Egyptian, Grecian, and other cultures.

The amount of precious materials in the artifact and sculpture sections is incredible. I can't even imagine the price for just the raw material! I've never seen so many tools and navigation instruments build out of solid gold, or sculptures out of silver. There was one hall just of ivory sculptures!

"The inscription on this oliphant mentions Count Albrecht III of Habsburg, who in 1199 presented the horn filled with relics to the Abbey of Muri in Switzerland. It remains unclear whether the inscribed text dates from the Middle Ages or was added around 1700, when the horn was presented to Emperor Leopold I as a sign of the object's original connection with his ancestor"

A "Prayer-Nut", from around 1500. The "nut" is made out of box wood, and is incredibly small, probably around 2-2 1/2 inches in diameter. Very intricately carved

Map with compass

Gold navigation instruments