MAK Museum of Applied Arts
Photo: Own work — CC BY 2.5, via Wikimedia Commons
The MAK Museum showcases a vast collection of applied arts, design, and contemporary art, featuring works from the Middle Ages to the present day.
Planning your visit
The MAK was founded in 1863 on the South Kensington model, as an institution to raise design standards in Austrian manufacture, and it became central to one of the most significant design movements of the twentieth century. Its Wiener Werkstätte holdings are the reason to visit: the archive of the workshop founded by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser in 1903, covering furniture, metalwork, glass, ceramics, textiles and graphics, with some 20,000 design drawings.
The Klimt material is likewise important — the full-size working drawings for the Stoclet Frieze, one of his major decorative commissions, are held here.
The wider collection runs from medieval and Renaissance decorative arts through baroque, Biedermeier and Jugendstil to contemporary design and architecture. Individual galleries were designed by different contemporary artists, which gives each room a distinct curatorial voice — an approach that divides opinion but is genuinely interesting.
It sits on the Ringstrasse. Allow two hours. The main booking is an entry ticket. Current availability is shown below.
Before you book
Where is MAK Museum of Applied Arts?
MAK Museum of Applied Arts is in Vienna, Austria.
How long should I allow for MAK Museum of Applied Arts?
Allow two hours. That is the time the collection itself takes at an unhurried pace, before any queue.
Do I need to book MAK Museum of Applied Arts in advance?
Tickets can be bought on the door at quiet times, but booking ahead fixes the date and avoids the queue at busy ones. Live availability is shown on this page.
