We homeschool and usually try to do our school work in the morning before heading out to a park or other fun activity in the afternoon. This morning when Oliver was supposed to write in his journal, he asked if we could go to the museum so he would have something exciting to write about, so we headed out and walked to the Kunsthistorische (Art History) Museum, one of our very favorites. James loves all the fountains and statues, and was excited to pose near this one before running off to play in the bushes.
In front of the museum there were a bunch of chairs set up that people were lounging in, a coloring station, and several copies of paintings found in the museum out for display.
Here is a replica of one of the items found in the museum, only made into a great tourist photo spot! Elora informed me that this particular sculpture is actually a salt and pepper set. James is sitting in the salt bowl, and Elora is standing next to the piece that on the real sculpture can be picked up and used as a pepper shaker. She of course knows all of this because we bought her an art insights book on some of the museums most famous pieces and she read every page of it.
The kids were excited to take more photos with James sitting in the salt bowl.
The kids were so excited to sit down with the museum workers and color pictures. They had a lot of different choices of coloring pages featuring different artifacts from the museum or scenes from Egypt or Ancient Greece. Since the weather was beautiful, the kids ended up sitting down and chatting with the museum workers and coloring for about an hour. They told us that they will be in front of the museum every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon for the whole month, trying to bring a little bit of the museum outside to tempt people to come inside. We will probably be spending a lot of time at the art museum this month! The kids had a great time.
James was quite excited to color a chariot. He was so focused and had very definite ideas on how he wanted his picture to look. He chose colors for the soldier that were similar to the colors on his knight costume.
Oliver colored a picture of the Colosseum. In the background there is a little turquoise hippopotamus paper weight, which is a replica of an item in the museum. Elora looked at it and said, “But the real Hippo is being cleaned, the one in the museum is just a copy.” Once again, I hadn’t noticed that. The workers explained that this was true and that their paperweight looks more like the real hippo than the copy found in the museum. They bought the hippo paperweights so that kids who came to color could see and pick up the hippo, since they don’t have a chance to handle the real artifacts in the museum. They were so friendly and good with the kids. We had a lot of fun talking with them, and I am super tempted to buy a hippo paperweight from the gift shop.
The museum workers had a suitcase to store their papers and extra supplies and they let James play with it once he was bored of coloring. The big kids would have colored much longer. James told us he was going on a trip and tried to carry the suitcase away, so we decided it was time to head inside!
We went to the Kunstkammer section today. We almost never go to this section of the museum, but it is full of really interesting pieces. Here is some info about this section of the museum:
“The Kunst- und Wunderkammern (arts and natural wonders rooms) of the Renaissance and Baroque periods were encyclopaedic, universal collections that attempted to reflect the entire knowledge of the day. Particularly desirable were rare, curious and unusual objects.
From the late Middle Ages to the Baroque, Habsburg emperors and archdukes collected exotic and uncommon materials, to which they often ascribed magical powers, such as precious stones, ostrich eggs, coral and shark’s teeth, which were considered to be dragon’s tongues. From these natural products, artists created virtuoso works of art. Over 2200 fabulous artworks await you in the Kunsthammer.”
Pictured is a backgammon board with hand-carved game pieces.
Because we spent a long time coloring outside, James was not very interested in the museum once we got inside. We found a room with a video showing different artwork in the museum, and there was a really neat video of a ship that could move. The kids were so enthralled and really wanted to see the real ship. At the end of the video, it said the ship was found in room 27, so off we went, checking the roman numerals over the door in each room so we could find the ship.
We stumbled upon this gold sculpture while searching for the ship – the real sculpture that was represented by the larger copy in front of the museum that the kids sat in to take pictures. The kids were so excited to see it and Marion said, “Hey, we sat in that!”
The kids were fascinated that this is a camera, and when I talked to them about film and the fact that you didn’t used to be able to see photos instantly. What a different world they live in with all the instant feedback of digital cameras! Oliver was looking at a video screen of different photographs and was so excited to show me. I pointed out to him that we were standing in the middle of the room that had all those photos (in real life!) on the walls. He laughed and went to find the photos he had seen on the screen. I love the interactive videos screens in the museum, but sometimes they distract the kids from the real art work all around them. Back to our artwork hunt!
We finally found the amazing ship! It is a centerpiece for a formal dinner table and actually would sail down the table while playing music. Plus the cannons actually shoot! It was made in 1585.I cannot believe this was made so long ago! It is so intricate and I am amazed at all the moving pieces. The kids thought it was fantastic. Here is a video of the ship in action. Can you imagine this in the middle of your dining room table?
We couldn’t leave the museum without walking through the Egyptian section. It is James, Marion, and Oliver’s favorite section and we usually start in this part of the museum. We had to go see the mummified crocodile and cats, and to look for the Hippo the kids had been playing with outside. We stopped in this spot in the last room before the exit and Oliver declared, “This is my favorite spot in the whole museum.” The look of amazement on his face is the moment he noticed there was a video camera filming him – I explained it was for security, but I think he was excited that he was being filmed since he really enjoys performing.
The museum could have been pretty rough with an overtired James and occasionally grumpy Marion, but since we had a few certain pieces we were looking for our visit became like a scavenger hunt. The kids loved searching for the Ship, the Hippo, and a few other items the museum workers had talked to us about before we went in. I think this will be a theme for every visit with the kids. We will pick out a couple new items to search for every time. It keeps them engaged in the visit, and we always enjoy seeing extra treasures and old favorites along the way.
There is a nice park called Weghuber Park just down the street behind the Volkstheater, so we headed there to give everyone, especially James, a chance to run around before heading home for dinner. The boys enjoyed pretending to fish in the fountain and luckily no one fell in. I love that no matter where you are in Vienna, there is a park just around the corner somewhere. That is one of the reasons we enjoy the city so much. That is the theme of our excursions: a little bit of culture and a whole lot of playgrounds!
