Description of the attraction
As the name suggests, the Carinthian State Museum, located in Klagenfurt, is dedicated to the past and present of this Austrian province. In 1844, the Society for Historical Carinthia was founded. This year is also considered to be the founding date of the Carinthian Regional Museum.
The purpose of the Society was to create and house a library and a collection of valuable exhibits at the Landhaus. In 1848, the Society for Natural Sciences appeared in Klagenfurt, which also began to collect various wonders. These items were included in the collection of the Historical Society in 1861. Due to the lack of suitable premises for the ever-growing collections of the two societies, a committee was formed in 1877 to find a new building for the museum. in 1879 the foundation stone of the new building was laid, and in 1884 the inauguration of the Museum of the Land of Carinthia took place. The neo-Renaissance building, designed by local architect Gustav Guditz, was unofficially named Rudolfinum in honor of Archduke Rudolf.
In addition to the main museum building and the National Library located on Museumgrasse, the Museum of Carinthia has five branches: the Heraldic Hall in the Landhaus of Carinthia, the Botanical Garden, the Ethnographic Institute and the Furniture Museum in Maria Sal, the Magdalensberg Archaeological Park and the Museum of Roman Excavations in Tournia.
Currently, the collection of the museum tells about the history of art, numismatics, geology, zoology and ethnology of the land of Carinthia. The youngest visitors have the opportunity to listen to several lectures at the Academy of Young Archaeologists. Absolutely all guests will be able to make a virtual ascent to the highest peak in Austria, from where a magnificent view of the Central Alps opens up.
