The Vienna Cathedral and Diocesan Museum was founded in 1933 and is regarded as one of the treasures within the varied Vienna museum scene. Located at Stefansplatz in the 1st District of the city, its permanent collection displays art from over 1000 years, above all works from the cathedral and many other churches in Vienna and Lower Austria. The most valuable possession is beyond doubt the 14th century portrait of the Duke Rudolph IV, regarded as the oldest painted portrait in the western world. Likewise from the 14th century is the work shown on the present Christmas Stamp, the “Birth of Christ”, a painting consisting of seven panel paintings, by an unknown artist.

Alongside objects from the Cathedral – including a fragment of the almost completely lost mediaeval windows – the museum also displays numerous masterpieces by gold and silversmiths, sculptors and painters from other churches of the Vienna Archdiocese. The exhibition in the Cathedral Museum, housed in the “Zwettelhof” since 1973, is a living testimony to artistic creativity from the early Middle Ages to the Gothic and Baroque through to the Jugendstil. The oldest object dates from the Carolingian age, the 9th century, and is an illuminated book of the Gospels. In addition, the museum holds valuable objects from the Treasury of St Stephen's. These include unique textiles and glasses, such as the unusual shroud of Duke Rudolph IV the Founder, made from Persian gold silk brocade, and rare Syrian glass containers from around 1300, that according to tradition were used as reliquaries for the earth soaked in the blood of the Holy Innocents in Bethlehem.

In addition, the museum holds an extensive collection of modern art from Austria, comprising almost 3000 works collected by Monsignor Otto Mauer (1907-1973), the legendary art patron and Cathedral Preacher at St Stephens. In the “Galerie nächst St. Stephan” opened in 1954, Mauer gave young painters of the post-war period a space to present their works. Parts of this collection kept by the museum, including works by Alfred Kubin, Hans Fronius, Arnulf Rainer, Josef Mikl, Markus Prachensky, Wolfgang Hollegha, Oswald Oberhuber and many more, are regularly made accessible to the public in temporary special exhibitions.

Source: Austria Post

published November 14th, 2011