Behind the Scenes

On Saturday morning, all IWF members and guests will have the opportunity to participate in one of the Behind-the-Scenes events or special tours to some of the outstanding cultural institutions of Vienna. Please find the details below and register for your favorite.

Should the cultural institutions be within walkable distance, we will guide you there on foot.
Those who choose to visit the Home of the Vienna Boys Choir the Vienna, the Augarten Manufactory or the Belvedere Museum will be introduced to the excellent Vienna public transportation system by your guide.
However, if you prefer to go there by taxi, you can make your own reservation with the concierge.

Sabine Haag, Director General of KHM, and a founding member of IWF Austria, will welcome the guests and introduce them to the history of its outstanding collections. The tour will focus on Highlights of the Art Collection.

The “Kunsthistorisches Museum” (lit.”Museum of Art History”, often referred to as the “Museum of Fine Arts”) is housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ringstrasse. It is one of the most important art museums worldwide. Emperor Franz Josef I of Austria-Hungary opened the facility in 1891 at the same time as the Natural History Museum, which has a similar design and is directly across from KHM. The emperor commissioned the two Ringstraße museums to create a suitable home for the Habsburg’s formidable art collection and to make it accessible to the general public. The interiors of the museums are lavishly decorated with marble, stuccoornamentation, gold-leaf, and murals executed by artists, such as Gustav and Ernst Klimt.

More information: www.khm.at

Possibility for Lunch (optional and at personal expense) at the formidable restaurant in the Coppola Hall of the museum.

Sorry, but this tour is already sold out

Prof Erich Arthold, the Director of the institution, will give you an insight into the daily life of the young artists of the famous Vienna Boys Choir, inform you about the new Vienna Girls Choir – Wiener Chormädchen – and introduce you to the MuTh concert hall. The Director of MuTh, Elke Hesse, is a member of IWF Austria.

Founded in 1498, the Vienna Boys Choir today is well known internationally and performs concerts all over the world. The boys, aged 10-14 years, live in the historic Augarten Palace within the baroque Augarten gardens. It is the central building of their boarding school, where they live, learn, and practice every day when not travelling.

Since 2012, they also have their own concert hall, MuTh, very close to the palace. It is a boutique state-of-the-art venue in which to perform. 

More information: www.wsk.at, www.muth.at

Possibility for Lunch (optional and at personal expense) in the restaurant “Sperling” at the baroque gardens of Augarten Palace.

The Wiener Staatsoper (Vienna State Opera) is one of the leading opera houses in the world. Its past is steeped in tradition. Its present is alive with richly varied performances and events. Each season, the schedule features 350 performances of more than 60 different operas and ballets. Every night, you can witness world-class artists alongside the permanent ensemble members on the stage, accompanied by the orchestra of Wiener Staatsoper, whose members are part of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra.

The opera house was the first major building built on the Vienna Ringstrasse. Work commenced on the opera house in 1861 and was completed in 1869. It was built in the Neo-Renaissance style. The guided tour will show you the opera in a way you could never explore as a touristic visitor.

More information: www.wiener-staatsoper.at

Possibility for Lunch (optional and at personal expense) at Café-Restaurant Gerstner, next to the opera house.

Sorry, but this tour is already sold out

You will get a look behind the scenes of the Spanish Riding School, which is dedicated to the preservation of classical dressage and the training of the famous white Lipizzaner horses. It is one of the “Big Four”, the most prestigious classical riding academies in the world, where you will meet the CEO of the institution, Alfred Hudler.

In an exclusive tour of the Spanish Riding School, you will visit the unique baroque Winter Riding School, the Summer Riding School with one of the world’s largest oval horse walkers and the stables of the Lipizzaner stallions. The stables have been housed in the Stallburg – one of Vienna’s most prominent Renaissance building – for more than 450 years. You will see the various locations that make up the special charm of this historic institution and learn about the institution’s history, equestrian traditions and about its stars – the Lipizzaner stallions! 

More information: www.srs.at

Possibility for Lunch (optional and at personal expense) at nearby Cafe-Restaurant Gerstner.

Sorry, but this tour is already sold out

The Belvedere palaces form one of the most significant Baroque complexes in the world. In the 18th century, the Austrian general Prince Eugene of Savoy commissioned a summer residence as an escape from the city, which didn’t extend beyond the first district in his day. After his death, Empress Maria Theresa acquired the entire complex and transformed the Upper Belvedere into an exhibition venue for the Imperial collections – making it one of the first public museums in the world. Between the Upper and Lower Belvedere stretches an iconic French garden. Today, the Lower Belvedere is used for temporary exhibitions of the museum.

More information: www.belvedere.at

Possibility for Lunch (optional and at personal expense) at the Café of the Belvedere.

CEO Diana Neumüller-Klein will welcome us at the Vienna Porcelain Manufactory. Founded in 1718, it is the second oldest porcelain production in Europe, after the one of “Meissen”. The manufactory is located at the Augarten Palace, the oldest baroque palace in Vienna.

During her tour, Diana will introduce the guests not only to the rich history of the brand, but also to the process of production and show how the items are still hand painted piece by piece. The various forms and patterns range from historic to modern, from Biedermeier through Jugendstil to contemporary designs. The objects range from dining services to decorative items like vases and porcelain figurines to champagne bowls. Guests will have the possibility to try to paint themselves!

A visit to the Augarten Porcelain Museum, where unique and valuable objects are displayed, researched and preserved, will also be included in the tour. 

More information: www.augarten.com 

Possibility for Lunch (optional and at personal expense) at Restaurant “Sperling”, next to the Museum and overlooking the Palace gardens.