This MedLibrary.org supplementary page on Albertina, Vienna is provided directly from the open source Wikipedia as a service to our readers. Please see the note below on authorship of this content, as well as the Wikipedia usage guidelines. To search for other content from our encyclopedia supplement, please use the form below:
Related Sponsors
| Albertina | |
 |
|
| Established | |
|---|---|
| Location | Vienna, Austria |
| Website | http://www.albertina.at |
The Albertina is a museum in the Innere Stadt (First District) of Vienna, Austria. It houses one of the largest and most important graphics collections in the world with approximately 65,000 drawings and approximately 1 million old master prints, as well as more modern graphics works.
History
Vienna's Albertina was erected on one of the last remaining sections of the fortifications of Vienna, the Augustian Bastion. Originally, the Hofbauamt (Court Construction Office), which had been built in the second half of the 17th century, stood in that location. In 1745, it was refurbished by the director of the Hofbauamt, Emanuel Teles Count Silva-Tarouca [1], to become his palace. It was therefore also known as Palais Taroucca. The building was later taken over by Duke Albert of Saxen-Teschen. He used it as his residence and later brought his collection there from Brussels, where he had acted as the governor of the Habsburg Netherlands. For that purpose, he had the building extended by Louis Montoyer. Since then, the palace has immediately bordered the Hofburg. The collection was expanded by Albert's successors.
The collection of paintings was created by Duke Albert with the Genoese count Giacomo Durazzo (Austrian ambassador in Venice). In 1776 the count presented nearly 1,000 pieces of art to the Duke Albert and his wife Marie-Christine (Maria Theresia's daughter). Graf Giacomo Durazzo - brother of Marcello Durazzo (Doge of Genoa) - "wanted to create a collection for posterity that served higher purposes than all others: education and the power of morality should distinguish his collection..." . In the 1820s Archduke Charles initiated further modifications of the building by Joseph Kornhäusel, which affected mostly the interior decoration. After Archduke Charles, Archduke Albert and Archduke Friedrich, Duke of Teschen lived in the building.
In early 1919, the building and the collection passed from the Habsburgs into the ownership of the Republic of Austria. In 1920, the collection of prints was unified with the collection of the former imperial court library. The name Albertina was established in 1921. In March 1945, the Albertina was heavily damaged by bomb attacks. The Albertina was completely refurbished and modernized from 1998 until 2003.
External links
Media related to Albertina Wien at Wikimedia Commons- Albertina homepage
- Map and Information
- Some pictures of the repository
Wikipedia content modification information:
- This page was last modified on 31 December 2008, at 03:05.
Wikipedia Authorship and Review
Wikipedia content provided here is not reviewed directly by MedLibrary.org. Wikipedia content is authored by an open community of volunteers and is not produced by or in any way affiliated with MedLibrary.org.
Wikipedia Usage Guidelines
This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article on "Albertina, Vienna".
The URL for this specific entry is:
All Wikipedia text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License. (See Copyrights for details). Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.