Albertina Modern, Vienna

Architect: August Weber (1868)
Restoration: Thomas Mahr (2021)
Text: György Szegő
Photos: Albertina, Hanna Szegő

In the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy the development of the capital city, Vienna and visual arts mutually enriched each other to flourish as signalling the stages of an economic breakthrough in the 19th century. Artists were rivalling with the aristocracy in social rank. Franz Joseph offered the site vacated whilst the city walls were demolished in the square in front of Karlskirche for the purposes of the Austrian Artists’s Association, where August Weber Jacopo Sansovino had a centre and exhibition palace built for them in the style of Renaissance mansions between 1865 and 1868. This building had entered its Sleeping Beauty sleep stage by the 21st century. As of today, Künstlerhaus has been renewed to serve the functions of both the Albertina Modern collection and the artists’ association.