Sights in Austria
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Albertina
Once used as the Habsburg’s imperial apartments for guests, the Albertina now houses the greatest collection of graphic art in the world. The collection, founded in 1768 by Maria Theresia’s son-in-law Duke Albert von Sachsen-Teschen, consists of an astonishing 1.5 million prints and 50,000 drawings, including 145 Dürer drawings (the largest collection in the world), 43 by Raphael, 70 by Rembrandt and 150 by Schiele. There are loads more by Leonardo da Vinci, Michelangelo, Peter Paul Rubens, Michael Bruegel, Paul Cézanne, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Gustav Klimt and Oskar Kokoschka.
The enormous collection of graphics, architectural sketches, photographs, prints and…
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Benedictine Abbey
Apart from the lake itself, Millstatt’s main attraction is its Romanesque Benedictine abbey, founded in 1070. This pretty complex consists of the 11th-century abbey, a graveyard that invites a stroll, and foundation buildings south of the abbey, with lovely yards and arcades. If you walk downhill along Stiftsgasse from the abbey, you see on the left a 1000-year-old lime tree. Millstatt was no exception to the practice common during the Middle Ages of holding trials beneath a tree (often a lime tree) and using the same tree for hangings.
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Stiftsmuseum
The Stiftsmuseum contains everything from documentation of the town’s history to reliquaries and a geology collection.
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Grossglockner Road
Surely one of Europe’s greatest drives, the snaking Grossglockner Road is a 1930s feat of engineering and a feast of perpendicular towers, ice blue glaciers and razor-sharp peaks. If the 43km highway doesn’t take your breath away with its hairpin bends, the incredible views of Grossglockner ringed by snowy peaks should do the trick.
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Pfänder Cable Car
A cable car whizzes to the 1064m peak of the Pfänder, a wooded mountain rearing above Bregenz and affording a breathtaking panorama of the Bodensee and the snowcapped summits of the not-so-distant Alps. At the top, a 30-minute circular trail brings you close to deer, ibex and whistling marmots at the year-round Wildpark (nature reserve). There’s also a <a href="/pois/1114356/lang/en" class="poi">Greifvogelflugschau</a>, where feathered performers amaze with aerial feats.
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Schloss Bruck
Lienz' biggest crowd-puller is its medieval fortress. The museum displays everything from Tyrolean costumes to emotive paintings by famous local son Albin Egger-Lienz.
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Universalmuseum Joanneum
With its 19 locations, this ensemble of museums is the gardener of Graz' rich cultural landscape. Until work is completed, some museums will be closed until late 2011, including Neue Galerie Graz, Styria's most important historical and contemporary art collection.
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Lentos
Ars Electronica's rival icon across the Danube is the rectangular glass-and-steel Lentos, also strikingly illuminated by night. The gallery guards one of Austria's finest modern art collections, including works by Warhol, Schiele and Klimt, which sometimes feature in the large-scale exhibitions.
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Aguntum
This Aguntum archaeological site, with an ultramodern museum to boot, is unique in these parts. Excavations are still under way to piece together the jigsaw puzzle of this 2000-year-old municipium, which flourished as a centre of trade and commerce under Emperor Claudius. Take a stroll outside to glimpse the Roman spa, artisan quarter and a reconstructed villa. The glass-walled museum explores Lienz’s Roman roots in greater depth, with interactive stuff for the kids (a virtual tour through Aguntum and dress-up costumes) and an exhibition featuring fun elements such as traditional Roman recipes.
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Bergisel
Rising above Innsbruck like a celestial staircase, this glass-and-steel ski jump was designed by much-lauded Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid. From May to July, fans pile in to see athletes train, while preparations step up a gear in January for the World Cup Four Hills Tournament.
It's 455 steps or a two-minute funicular ride to the 50m-high viewing platform. Here, the panorama of the Nordkette range, Inn Valley and Innsbruck is breathtaking, though the cemetery at the bottom has undoubtedly made a few ski jumping pros quiver in their boots.
Bus 4143 and line TS run from the Hauptbahnhof to Bergisel.
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Kunsthalle
The flagship of Krems' Kunstmeile, an eclectic collection of galleries and museums, the Kunsthalle has a program of small but excellent changing exhibitions.
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Lehár Festival
Lehár Festival takes place every year in July and August, with stagings of his own and other composers’ works.
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Inatura
Dornbirn’s biggest draw is this hands-on museum. It’s a wonderland for kids who can pet (stuffed) foxes and handle (real) spiders, whip up tornados, conduct light experiments and generally interact with science, nature and technology. There’s also a climbing wall and 3D cinema.
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Alter Dom
The twin towers of this late-17th-century cathedral dominate Linz’ skyline. With its stuccowork, pink marble altar and gilt pillars, the interior is remarkably ornate. Famous local lad Anton Bruckner served as organist here from 1856 to 1868.
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Mauthausen Memorial
Nowadays Mauthausen is an attractive small town on the north bank of the Danube east of Linz, but its status as a quarrying centre prompted the Nazis to site <strong>KZ Mauthausen</strong> concentration camp here. Prisoners were forced into slave labour in the granite quarry and many died on the so-called <em>Todesstiege</em> (stairway of death) leading from the quarry to the camp. Some 100,000 prisoners died or were executed in the camp between 1938 and 1945.
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Ursulinenkirche
This baroque, twin-domed former nunnery church features altar paintings by the prolific Martin Altomonte.
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Burg Wels
Gathered around a quiet, flower-dotted garden, this castle is where Emperor Maximilian I drew his last breath in 1519. The folksy museum contains everything from cannon balls to Biedermeier costumes. Must-sees include the horse-drawn cider press and the circular room that’s a shrine to baking, with walls smothered in animal-shaped pastries and gigantic pretzels.
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OÖ Feuerwehrmuseum
Opposite the Stiftskirche, this is a little boy’s dream of a museum and an ode to St Florian, patron saint of fire-fighters. The collection comprises historic fire engines, hoses and other paraphernalia.
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Österreichisches Jüdisches Museum
Situated in the former Judengasse, the street where Eisenstadt’s Jewish population mostly lived in the Middle Ages, this museum has a permanent exhibition illustrating the rituals and lifestyle of Eisenstadt’s Jews. Descriptions are in German and Hebrew. Part of the museum is the historic private synagogue of Samson Wertheimer, who was born in Worms in Germany in 1658 and rose to the position of rabbi in Hungary. He financed the synagogue, and it was one of the few to survive the pogroms of 1938.
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Schloss Schattenburg
This 13th-century hilltop castle is storybook stuff with its red turrets and creeping vines. It’s a steep climb up to the ramparts, which command far-reaching views over Feldkirch’s rooftops. Once the seat of the counts of Montfort, the castle now houses a small museum displaying religious art, costumes and weaponry.
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Weltkulturerbe Museum
The high-tech Stadtmuseum covers the region’s history of Iron Age/Celtic occupation and salt mining. All explanations are in German, but pick up the Museum Hallstatt booklet (€2; in English) which explains the exhibits. Not to be missed is the room re-enacting the fatal rockslides that may have led to the area being abandoned.
Celtic and Roman excavations can be seen downstairs in Dachsteinsport Janu, a shop opposite the tourist office, or near the Salzbergwerk, where excavation continues.
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Alte Galerie & Museums
The second interesting aspect of any visit (the important one in winter months) is the remarkable works of art held in museums inside the palace and grounds. The Alte Galerie (Old Gallery) houses paintings from the Middle Ages to the baroque. In a clever touch, each room has been individually coloured to highlight and complement the dominant tones of the paintings displayed in them. In summer, admission to the Alte Galerie is included in the price of tours.
The palace houses three other excellent collections, which can be visited with admission to the Alte Galerie or Schloss itself. In the Pre- and Early-History Collection the prize exhibition is the exceptional Strettweg…
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K-Hof
Recently revamped and combined with one of Austria’s most unusual and refreshing museums, the Museum for Sanitary Objects, the K-Hof museum complex gives a fascinating insight into the history of the region. The exhibition covers ceramics manufacture (for which Gmunden was famous in its early years), fossils and the life of the 15th-century astronomer Johannes von Gmunden, whose theories influenced Copernicus. It is an eclectic museum, and it integrates the Gothic St Jakob’s, Gmunden’s first church. After these, you reach a section dedicated to sanitary objects – mostly toilets, urinals and basins. The collection is monumental and intriguing. About 80 examples are on…
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Bodensee Cycle Path
Everybody who arrives in Bregenz is bewitched by the Bodensee, Europe's third largest lake, straddling Austria, Switzerland and Germany. In summer, the lake attracts cycling enthusiasts to the beautiful and blissfully flat trails lining its banks. Other activities on the lake include sailing and diving at Lochau, and swimming. For those that would prefer to kick back and enjoy the view, there are numerous boat companies that ferry passengers across the lake from April to mid-October.
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Pilgrimage Church
The <strong>church</strong>, sometimes known as the Wallfahrtskirche, was built in the early 15th century from volcanic stone, some of it filched from a nearby Roman ruin. Originally Gothic, it later received Romanesque and baroque modifications. The exterior south wall is embedded with relief panels and ancient gravestones – look for the Roman mail wagon carved into one of the stones and the weird frescoes of people growing out of bulbous flowers on the church ceiling (they represent the genealogy of Christ).
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