Description of the attraction
Styrian Museum Ioanneum is the oldest museum in all of Austria. It was opened in 1811. Now, under the auspices of this museum, several museums and galleries function both in Graz itself and throughout the federal state of Styria, but its main building is located in the Ioanneum quarter of the same name in the historic center of Graz. It is located 500 meters from the Schlossberg Palace and practically opposite the banks of the Mur River.
Since its opening, Ioanneum has served both as a museum and a research center. Famous scientists worked here - mineralogist Friedrich Moos, botanist Franz Unger. The first exhibitions were held in the old Lesliehof house, and in 1890-1895 the so-called "New Joanneum" was built - a monumental building made in the neo-baroque style. In 2011, a single entrance to both of these buildings was erected.
Now the Ioanneum Museum houses several separate galleries at once. The building of the late 19th century houses the New Art Gallery, which displays paintings and sculptures from the 19th century, especially the works of the famous artist Gustav Klimt. It is worth noting that some works of modern art can make a shocking impression on an overly receptive viewer, so the entrance to certain rooms is prohibited for minors. The same building houses a collection of audio and video materials, as well as two and a half million photographs, including old ones, dedicated to the history of the federal state of Styria.
As for the old building of the Ioanneum Museum, there is a Natural History Museum, which presents a variety of collections dedicated to paleontology, geology, botany, zoology, mineralogy and much more. The oldest fossils, for example, are more than 500 million years old, and in the section on zoology you can get acquainted with the typical fauna of such remote corners of the globe as, for example, Australia and Oceania. There is also a collection of minerals collected by Friedrich Moos and typical plants of the Austrian flora.
