Those who are ever curious about how the royalty in Vienna lived during their glory days can find several places in the city where they can satisfy their interest. The Habsburg dynasty in particular has left numerous collections in their stately mansions and palaces that most of them have been converted into museums. One of these museums was actually a mere storage space for the thousands of furniture that the royal family amassed over centuries – the Mobelmuseum of the K.K. Hofmobiliendepot. This interesting museum situated in Mariahilferstrasse in Neubau represents the immense wealth of the Habsburgs who frequently changed residences and required a great deal of change in the furnishings and equipment inside their palaces. Empress Maria Theresia even had to appoint an Imperial Furniture Inspector whose main job was to purchase and catalogue all the furniture and items used to decorate the rooms in the Habsburg properties. The museum was opened to the public by the Austrian national government in 1924.
Covering four floors and several galleries, the collection of over 165,000 items represents the evolution of furniture design in Vienna and Europe for about five centuries which is a great study for architects and interior designers. There are furniture and decorations in styles such as Biedermeier, Historicism, Baroque, Art Nouveau and Viennese modernism. Many well-known artists and architects have been commissioned to create interior pieces for the Habsburgs and they are well-represented in the collection: Otto Wagner, Adolf Loos, Joseph Maria Olbrich to name a few. Here visitors can find furniture of the most intricate design to the curious and unique such as a set of rococo spittoons for tobacco-chewing, a travel throne, different types of commodes and bed pans and a huge walking hat with a walking stick.
