NHM - Naturhistorisches Museum Wien
The Natural History Museum Vienna is one of the largest, oldest, and most noteworthy natural history museums in the world. The current building was completed in 1889. Today it houses a collection of about 30 million specimens and artifacts. Its collections were founded in 1750 by Emperor Franz I Stephan of Lorraine, the husband of Maria Theresa. They comprise a number of famous and unique objects, such as the 25,000-year-old figure of the “Venus of Willendorf”, an almost complete skeleton of Steller’s Sea Cow, which became extinct more than 200 years ago, huge dinosaur skeletons, and the largest and oldest meteorite collection in the world. The most recent sensational acquisition, the Tissint Martian meteorite in the modernized meteorite hall, and the new permanent anthropology exhibition about human evolution definitely count among the highlights of the 39 galleries that are visited by well over half a million visitors each year.
Highlights
From a queer, respectively lesbian point of view, the Venus of Willendorf in Room 11 is one of the highlights. It represents a 25.000 year old 11 cm tall women with overhanging breasts and bottom - maybe a prehistoric mother and fertility goddess.
Meteorite collection is the oldest and largest of its kind and dating back to the earlier collections of Austro-Hungarian emperors. Kids, but grown ups alike will fancy the dinosaur room with a huge Diplodocus seleton. The Hallstatt period - named after Hallstatt, Austrias most prominent archeological site is dealt with in a permanent exhibition.
