Hidden masterpieces, historic reopenings and stylistic revolutions

Heading back down towards Schillerplatz, the route reveals one of the city’s most unjustly overlooked treasures: the Gemäldegalerie of the Academy of Fine Arts (Akademie der bildenden Künste). In its tall, monumental halls, where an almost monastic tranquillity reigns, you find yourself face to face with the hallucinatory magnetism of Hieronymus Bosch’s ‘Judgement of the Last Judgement’ triptych, surrounded by precious paintings by Cranach and Rubens. If you book a little in advance, the adjacent Kupferstichkabinett even allows you access to the study room to view the academy’s extraordinary collection of prints up close, from Albrecht Dürer’s anatomical studies to the tormented lines of Egon Schiele. Just a few minutes’ walk away, the imperial heart of the city is preparing to unveil its most eagerly awaited new attractions. From 19 November, the Sissi Museum and the Silver Collection Museum will reopen within the Hofburg: completely revamped exhibitions offer a fresh insight into the daily rituals of the Habsburg court, displaying the empress’s personal belongings and intimate mementoes. Shortly afterwards, in early December, it will be the turn of the nearby Lobkowitz Palace: now that the extensive restoration work has been completed, the historic Baroque building housing the Theatre Museum will reopen with the launch of a digital exhibition dedicated to Gustav Klimt, designed to explore the artist’s deep connection with the world of theatre and set design. A little further on, the vast MuseumsQuartier (Mqw) complex demonstrates how the imperial legacy can be transformed into an avant-garde narrative. At the Leopold Museum, the major exhibition *Modern Fashion – Wiener Werkstätte & Paris* recounts the precise moment, at the turn of the 20th century, when Vienna and Paris consigned the corset to the attic to usher in the reformed dress, celebrating the creativity of Paul Poiret and Sonia Delaunay. In the museum shop and at the nearby MQ Point, it is impossible to resist buying silk scarves, designer notebooks and furnishing fabrics that echo the rigorous modernist geometries devised by Josef Hoffmann and Koloman Moser.