Military History Museum and the Imperial Treasury

Our on-site coordinator, Elliott, gave our group a special tour through the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum. While his tour was pretty great -- Elliott was animated and engaging -- the museum itself left something to be desired. Apart from a very well-done exhibition on World War I and the Thirty Years' War (in my amateur opinion), the rest of the museum was pretty one-sided and, dare I say, bland. The World War II exhibit for example was devoted almost entirely to displaying arms and uniforms used by the Reich's army, with virtually no attention paid to the Holocaust, the other belligerants in the War, or the fact that they suffered a crushing defeat. Instead it seemed like they wanted to glorify Nazism and their military's small successes, which seems in poor taste. The gift shop also sucked. Just sayin'.

The museum itself is almost more impressive than the exhibits in it. Like the Kunsthistorisches and the Naturhistorisches Museums, it was purpose-built as a museum to be located within Vienna's Arsenal when it was built in the 1850s. It is the oldest museum in Vienna.

Later on, I returned to the Imperial Treasury. My film group had intended on filming a scene for our movie inside the museum featuring the crown jewels, so we wanted to go back to plan the scene. The exhibits were still breathtaking the second time around, and the lighting was just as bad. The crown jewels are probably the centerpiece of the exhibit, which is impressive considering everything else on display.

The Austrian Crown Jewels are the coronation garb of the Holy Roman Empire and eventually the Austrian Empire. The three most recognizable pieces are the crown, orb, and sceptre which are pictured below.

These are the same vestment that gave birth to the Austrian Empire after the collapse of the Holy
Roman Empire. Pictured below is Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor who later became Francis I, Emperor of Austria, painted by Friedrich von Amerling in 1832. This painting can be found in the Kunsthistorisches Museum.