Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Cost and Hours:
€8, €10 includes a hefty English guidebook, free Tue after 18:00;
open Wed-Sun 10:00-18:00, Tue 10:00-22:00, closed Mon, Stubenring 5, tel. 01/711-360,
Visiting the Museum:
The MAK is more than just another grand building on the Ring-
strasse. It was built to provide models of historic design for Ringstrasse architects and is
a delightful space in itself (many locals stop in to enjoy a coffee on the plush couches in
the main lobby). The collection of furniture, ceramics, textiles, metalwork, and more shows
off the fancies of local aristocratic society, including fine Biedermeier and
Jugendstil
pieces
(among them, Klimt designs for a palace in Brussels).
Eachwingisdedicatedtoadifferentera.Exhibits,well-describedinEnglish(borrowthe
captions in each room), come with a playful modern flair—notable modern designers were
assigned various spaces. An interesting section covers the Vienna Workshop project (Wien-
er Werkstätte). Inspired by England's Arts and Crafts movement, it was born about 1903
to keep craftspeople (cabinetmakers, bookbinders, metalworkers, and so on) competitive in
the Industrial Age. While the workshop lasted a decade, it had more idealism than business
savvy. Mass production eventually won out, and its products faded into oblivion.
The unique gift shop also makes for a fun diversion.
Eating at the MAK:
The beautiful lobby hosts an inviting
café.
The
Restaurant Ös-
terreicher im MAK,
in the same building, is named for Chef Helmut Österreicher, who's
renownedforhisclassicandmodernViennesecuisine.Classyandmod,it'strendyforlocals
(€9-23 plates, daily 10:00-1:00 in the morning, reserve for evening, tel. 01/714-0121).
Built between 1904 and 1912, Vienna's Postal Savings Bank offers a fascinating look into
the society, as well as the architecture, of that age. The main part of the building, which still
functions as a bank, is open to the public.
CostandHours:
Bankfoyer—free,museum—€6,Mon-Sat9:00-17:00,closedSun,just
off the Ringstrasse at Georg-Coch-Platz 2,
www.ottowagner.com
.
VisitingthePostalSavingsBank:
Thepostalsavingssystemwasintendedforworking-
class people, who did not have access to the palatial banks of the 19th century. Secessionist
architect Otto Wagner believed “necessity is the master of art,” and he declared that “what
is impractical can never be beautiful.” Everything about his design—so gray, white, and ef-
ficient—is practical. It's so clean that the service provided here feels almost sacred. This is
a textbook example of form following function, and the form is beautiful.
The product of an age giddy with advancement, the building dignifies the technological
and celebrates it as cultural. Study the sleek, yet elegantly modern exterior: Angles high
above—made of an exciting new material, aluminum—seem to proclaim the modern age.
The facade and its unadorned marble siding panels, secured by aluminum bolts, give the im-
