Curatorial Departments The collections of the Weltmuseum Wien comprise nearly 536.000 objects from all over the world. Sub-Saharan Africa Sub-Saharan Africa The collection encompasses ca. 37,000 objects and reflects the cultural diversity of Africa from the Sahel to the southernmost tip of the continent, from Muslim Senegal in the west to Christian Ethiopia and the island of Madagascar in the east. Among the highlights of the collection are exceptional bronzes and ivory objects from the Benin...

Adventure Science Etta Becker-Donner in Africa and Latin America 16 November 2011 to 19 March 2012 Between 1955 and 1975, Etta Becker-Donner (1911 - 1975) was the director of the Museum of Ethnology Vienna. She was a major driving force behind the foundations and the enlargement of the present collection. Etta Donner on her first research trip to Liberia 1934 © KHM-Museumsverband About the exhibition About the exhibition In the 1930’s she was the first ethnologist to undertake field studies in...

Whatever You Throw at the Sea... Zara Julius 27 April 2023 to 2 April 2024 Whatever You Throw at the Sea… is a research-derived audio-visual project by Johannesburg-based artist and researcher Zara Julius. Having critically engaged the collections of the Weltmuseum Wien and those of the Phonogrammarchiv at ÖAW (Austrian Academy of Sciences) during a research residency in the summer of 2022, the project eventually culminates in an installation at Weltmuseum Wien in April 2023. Zara Julius’s work...

Magical Opening of the new Weltmuseum Wien The time had finally come on 25 October 2017: the new Weltmuseum Wien opened its doors after three years of reconstruction – with a spectacular show curated by André Heller at Vienna’s Heldenplatz. More than 7,500 people came to celebrate with us and to light a beacon of tolerance, respect, cooperation. There was a great run on the Museum both after the show and for the Open House on 26 October 2017 – with around 9,500 visitors. Artists from all across...

Travel & Collections S.M. Schiff Aurora, k.k. Kriegsmarine The collections of the ship Aurora from the years 1886-96, now housed in the Weltmuseum Vienna, contain over 400 objects from the Caribbean, Oceania, Africa and Asia, as well as photographs. The exemplary investigation of some provenances and the presentation of the activities, functions and intentions of the imperial royal navy ( k.k. Kriegsmarine ), building on the last research project (voyage of the ship Frundsberg 1884-85), are the...

Digitisation and Retro-Cataloguing The historically valuable holdings of the museum’s library collection have been retro-catalogued and digitised since 2011 and 2013 respectively. As a result, the holdings are preserved and made available to scientific research. Copper and maps on Volume 1 of the voyage of His Serene Highness Prince Maximilian von Neuwied to Brazil in the years 1815 to 1817, Frankfurt am Main [1819] Contact Digitisation Mag. Peter Kloser peter.kloser@khm.at +43 1 525 24-3505...

South Sudan Museums Network Connecting the arts and heritage of South Sudan in European museums As part of an international network of European museums, experts and representatives from South Sudan and the Weltmuseum Wien are making tangible steps towards a major programme of research and exploration based on South Sudanese museum collections. Pair of figures, Unknown Bari master, South Sudan, before 1882, Gift by Martin Hansal, Imperial and Royal Consul in Khartoum The Weltmuseum Wien has been...

Provenance research The Frundsberg/ Emerich Billitzer Collection The project on the Frundsberg/ Emerich Billitzer collection funded by the BMKÖS is a contribution to the current debates on questions of provenance and restitution within European ethnographic museums. The collection from East Africa of the k. k. frigate doctor Billitzer was compiled in 1884/85 on behalf of the Ministry of War during the journey of S. M. Corvette Frundsberg. The project deals in detail with this complex collection...

Tabita Rezaire Calabash Nebula: Cosmological Tales of Connection 17 September 2025 to 11 January 2026 With Tabita Rezaire. Calabash Nebula: Cosmological Tales of Connection, Weltmuseum Wien presents the first solo exhibition of Tabita Rezaire (*1989) in Austria. In her work, the multidisciplinary artist, activist, and healer combines digital technologies with spiritual, non-Western, and indigenous knowledge systems. Through her artistic practice, she explores healing as a decolonial strategy and...

Opening of the Exhibition We would like to invite you to the opening of our new special exhibition Colonialism on the Window Sill! This exhibition shines a spotlight on ten plants that have been favourites of European living rooms and balconies for centuries, though their natural habitats are outside the continent. These plants share a history with our ethnographic collections; some of them joined the objects on long naval voyages to reach Europe and the museums. Beyond the demand...

Colonialism on the Window Sill 28 May 2025 to 25 May 2026 This exhibition shines a spotlight on ten plants that have been favourites of European living rooms and balconies for centuries, though their natural habitats are outside the continent. These plants share a history with our ethnographic collections; some of them joined the objects on long naval voyages to reach Europe and the museums. Beyond the demand for medicinal plants and crops (nowadays ‘cash crops’ that are cultivated on a grand...

The Majlis Cultures in Dialogue 17 September 2019 to 27 July 2020 The international travelling exhibition The Majlis - Cultures in Dialogue of the Sheikh Faisal Bin Qassim Al-Thani Museum in Doha, Qatar will be on show at the Weltmuseum Wien after its stops in Valletta and Paris. The Majlis has shaped the Arabic and Islamic people for centuries, serving as a centre for social encounters, for political debates and decisions, and for teaching and discussion. Technically defined as a ‘sitting...

The Weltmuseum Wien The Weltmuseum Wien has a long history. The museum's oldest ethnographic collections were located in Austria as early as the 16th century. With beginnings in Ambras Castle in Tyrol, the collection of 200,000 objects today is at home in the Neue Burg in the heart of Vienna. 16th to 18th Century 16th to 18th Century – A Habsburg Private Collection Nobility, clergy and bourgeoisie cultivated interest in exotic and curious objects from the Renaissance. The artefacts in their...

The Aztecs 15 October 2020 to 22 June 2021 Weltmuseum Wien is hosting an exhibition that showcases the legendary art and culture of the Aztecs. This comprehensive show offers visitors the first-ever chance to get to know the Aztecs in their cultural context. About the exhibition About the exhibition Exhibition view © KHM-Museumsverband In the early sixteenth century, at the time of the Spanish conquest, the Aztecs who called themselves Mexica ruled large parts of Mesoamerica. A nomadic people...

Weltmuseum Wien It's all about people. Eventful Histories Eventful Histories A short intro to the Weltmuseum Wien without words. The film can be viewed here or in theHall of Columns of our museum. Mission & History Ethnological museums are witnesses to the cultural diversity and changes of our human societies. Exhibitions provide ethnological museums with an opportunity to display their collections to the general public. The treasures they preserve are dedicated to the better understanding of...

Galleries of Marvel Only until 8 January 2023 24 January 2019 to 8 January 2023 New at Galleries of Marvel Sacrifices in precarious times: from the Moche culture to the current climate crisis Until 8 January 2023 Around 1,500 years ago, the Moche culture along the arid northern coast of Peru performed human sacrifices to mitigate climatic and ecological disasters caused by severe “El Niño” events. The precarious living conditions in consequence of “El Niño” have shaped societal structures and...

TAKING CARE Ethnographic and World Cultures Museums as Spaces of Care In October 2019, the Weltmuseum Wien inaugurated the new EU-funded cooperation project “TAKING CARE. Ethnographic and World Cultures Museums as Spaces of Care”. TAKING CARE explores the connections between ethnographic collections and questions regarding the climate crisis and the Anthropocene, and in this context addresses issues related to the afterlives of colonialism. It positions ethnographic and world cultures museums as...

A Little Bit of Everything 24 April to 22 September 2024 A special feature of the collections in the Weltmuseum Wien is their great variety of materials. Recognizing them is sometimes child's play: a boat is made of wood, a plate of ceramic. Other materials, however, must first be examined under a microscope or with chemical analyses. Is a piece of jewelry really made of gold or brass? Is a piece of clothing made of sheep's wool or synthetic fiber? The collections of the Weltmuseum Wien house...

Allow us to reintroduce ourselves Allow us to reintroduce ourselves is an illustrative portrayal of moments of Black Austrian history by Black history experts, creatives and cultural workers from across Europe and the Black diaspora. Curator Tonica Hunter brings together historian and journalist Vanessa Spanbauer and visual artist Rossel Chaslie in this collaborative artistic-historic project which reflects on the past, depicts the present and imagines a better future for Black life in Austria....

Science & Research at the Weltmuseum Wien Here you can learn about the current research in our museum. Contact Here you can find our curatorial staff. Research projects Research projects at the Weltmuseum Wien Current projects Human remains in the collections of the Weltmuseum Wien Human remains in the collections of the Weltmuseum Wien The collections of the Weltmuseum Wien also contain human remains. These include mummies, so-called “ancestor heads”, objects in which human remains (bones,...