Wien Museum

The WIEN MUSEUM is one of the leading European city museums and at the same time an art museum of international importance. It sees itself as a low-threshold, open house for everyone who lives in Vienna or is visiting here. Scientific research into the (cultural) history of Vienna forms the starting point for current questions related to urban life in the 21st century. This results in a clear commitment to a pluralistic, cosmopolitan and progressive society. You can find out more information here: VIENNA MUSEUM

It was founded in 1887 as the Historical Museum of the City of Vienna and opened a year later in the recently completed new Vienna City Hall with its first collection exhibited. The collections themselves are even older. They go back to the population’s need to preserve the city’s history in times of great change from the middle of the 19th century onwards. The creation of a numismatic collection was officially decided at a municipal meeting in 1862 and has grown steadily since then, mainly thanks to generous donations and dedications.

Today, the numismatic collection of the Vienna Museum comprises more than 37,000 objects, including around 15,000 coins, over 8,700 medals and badges, more than 8,300 paper and emergency banknotes as well as stamps, tokens, counting coins, stamps, historical securities and other numismatic objects. The focus of the collection is on medieval and modern objects with a connection to Vienna or Austria. In addition, the coins found in archaeological excavations are kept in the collections. 

Since the end of 2023, the permanent exhibition “Vienna My History” in the newly designed Vienna Museum Karlsplatz has been accessible again free of charge. In addition, there are changing special exhibitions and 21 other associated locations throughout Vienna. Coins, medals and other numismatic objects are integrated into the exhibition at several locations, such as the permanent exhibition on Karlsplatz, in the Roman Museum and in the Virgil Chapel.

Objects from the collection that are not on display are not accessible to the public, but can be viewed for research purposes upon request. The museum also has a constantly growing online collection. There are currently almost 2,500 numismatic objects available there with high-quality images.

Publication list:

• Boros, Mika: The Spöttl Collection, In: Bulgarian Numismatic Journal Vol. 2 No. 1 (2024): First Bulgarian Numismatic Readings (BulgNR), pp. 39–46.
• Boros, Mika: Die Numismatische Sammlung des Wien Museums; In: Museion. Zborník Kremnického Múzea, vol. 2 (2023), Štúdie z medzinárodnej konferancie Numismatica Centroeurope IV, ktorá sa uskutočnila v Kremnici 23.–26. Septembra 2019, pp. 221–224.
• Boros, Mika: The Spöttl collection in the Vienna Museum; In: Krmnicek, Stefan, Rambach, Hadrien (eds.): Institutions and Individuals. The numismatic World in the long nineteenth Century, Volume 2, New York 2023, pp. 174–182.
• Boros, Mika: Der “Wunschbrunnen” in der Virgilkapelle. In: Fundort Wien. Berichte zur Archäologie 24 (2021), pp. 72–81.
• Boros, Mika, Hartner, Johannes: Frühmittelalterliche Glanzstücke des Wien Museums. Zwei merowingische Tremisses aus der Sammlung Spöttl; In: Mitteilungen der Österreichischen Numismatischen Gesellschaft (MÖNG), 59/1 (2019), pp. 17–25.
• Schusser, Adalbert, Aichelburg, Wladimir (eds.): Vom Pfennig zum Euro: Geld aus Wien. Ausstellung im Historischen Museum der Stadt Wien 7. Februar bis 24. März 2002, Vienna 2002.
• Schusser, Adalbert: Die Numismatische Sammlung; In: Deutschmann, Wilhelm (ed.): Hundert Jahre Hirstorisches Museum der Stadt Wien, Vienna 1987, pp. 36–37.
• Waissenberger, Robert (ed.): Schausammlung. Historisches Museum der Stadt ein, Vienna 1984.
• https://magazin.wienmuseum.at/beruehmte-wiener-elefanten 
• https://magazin.wienmuseum.at/richard-loewenherz-und-das-geld 
• https://magazin.wienmuseum.at/osmanische-haendler-in-wien