Join us for a visit to one of the curious rarities in Vienna. The unique Globe Museum sports hundreds of globes for you to learn about the development of our understanding about what is where and how maps should be depicted.
The unique Globe Museum sports two hundred forty different original globes of the earth and the sky, the moon and the planet Mars. You can follow the development of our cartographic and cosmographic knowledge and its influence on how we have seen the world over the centuries. The museum introduces you to the art and science of these magical spheres, with some great examples to see with your own eyes. These fascinating objects and, at the same time, true works of art help you discover how our cartographic and cosmographic knowledge has developed over the past 500 years.
As early as in the 19th century, the Vienna Imperial Library had a globe collection. After an inventory in 1921, the globes were transferred to the National Library’s map collection and in 1956, the National Library opened the Globe Museum with a total of 63 exhibits. Today, there are approximately 600 terrestrial and celestial globes in the collection with the majority of them dating from before 1850.
The Austrian National Library’s Globe Museum is the only one in the world. The touchscreens will tell you everything about the history, production, and use of globes. You will also be surprised by their digital equivalent, the hyperglobe. However, you will see that the true wonder is in the globes themselves - just admire the dozens of them on show, such as the Sphaera Stellifera celestial globe from the 1620s with its representations of star signs; the 1541 Mercator globe, which you can also examine digitally to discover where 16th-century geographers got it right and wrong (poor Australia); the richly decorated 1688 earth globe by Vincenzo Coronelli, who made globes for France’s Louis XIV; and the 1536 globe by Gemmas Frisius in the Rudolf Schmidt collection, the oldest globe in Austria and one of the oldest surviving globes worldwide.
Moving from one room to another, do not forget to admire the 17th-century Golden Cabinet with its gorgeous Baroque wall paintings.
The museum is fully accessible. Take the lift to the museum that is located in the first floor. The museum shares the accessible loo and wardrobe with the Esperanto Museum at the street level.
There is no museum shop or café but just step out and share your impressions with your museum friends at any of the hundreds of cafés around the museum.
Globenmuseum
Palais Mollard, Herrengasse 9, 1010 Vienna
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