26 February 2008 – 13 May 2008

TREASURES FROM THE NATIONAL PALACE MUSEUM, TAIPEH

The collections of the National Palace Museum in Taipei, renowned as the world’s largest and most exquisite collection of Chinese art, derive from a tradition of imperial collecting that spanned a millennium. Begun and first catalogued during the Song dynasty (960-1279), the collection survived numerous changes of dynasties, foreign rulers and wars as the preservation of the country’s cultural heritage was regarded as one of the foremost duties of a Chinese emperor in order to fulfill his “heavenly mandate”.

The Qing dynasty (1644-1911) marked the high-point of this thousand-year-old history of collecting; its most dedicated collector was the Emperor Qianlong (reigned 1736-1795), celebrated by some as the greatest collector of all time. This sumptuous treasury eventually became part of the National Palace Museum Taipei which was founded in 1925 and now houses over 650.000 objects, making it one of the largest museums in the world.

Address

Kunsthistorisches Museum
Maria-Theresien-Platz
1010 Wien
phone +43 1 52 52 40
http://www.khm.at

Opening Hours

Tuesday-Sunday 10 a.m. - 6 p.m., Thursday till 9 p.m., closed on Monday.

Description of the Museum

The eight different collections of the museum are partly in the Neue Burg and in Schloß Schönbrunn. They include objects from old Egypt, the antiquity, the Middle Ages and the modern age until about 1800. Special focusses are the art of the Renaissance and the Baroque.

several branches, among others Schatzkammer (treasure chamber), Theatermuseum, Neue Burg, Wagenburg

Within 10 days
starting exhibitions
ending exhibitions