Thursday, January 24, 2013

Museum of Applied Arts Vienna

Founded by Emperor Franz Joseph in 1863 as the “Imperial Royal Austrian Museum of Art and Industry”, the Museum of Applied Arts (or MAK) was the first museum on the Stubenring when it opened in 1871. It is located on the northern edge of the famous Stadtpark or Viennese City Park.




Found between two gates on a wall connecting the museum to the University of Applied Arts next door,  a larger than life sized Salviati mosaic of the Roman goddess Minerva (or her Greek equivalent, Athena) stands above a marble fountain. The mosaic was designed by the building's architect Heinrich von Ferstel and it was completed in 1873, the year of the Vienna World Expo where it decorated the entrance to the Italian Fine Arts Court.




Sources: 
MAK Venues
MAK History
Vreni's Vienna Daily Photo 
Barr, Sheldon. Venetian Glass Mosaics: 1860-1917. New York: Antique Collectors’ Club Ltd., 2008. 128.
The Building News and Engineering Journal. Vol. 36. London: E.J. Kibblewhite, 1879. 377.

No comments:

Post a Comment