The Neue Burg museums

From papyrus to sword

The Neue Burg, the tract of Vienna’s Hofburg on Heldenplatz, is home to 4 museums: the Ephesos Museum, the Hunting and Arms Chamber, the Collection of Historic Musical Instruments Sammlung Alter Musikinstrumente, curated by the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Papyrus Museum, which belongs to the Austrian National Library.

In the Hunting and Arms Chamber you can find out what kind of armour and weaponry were used by knights at tournaments and in battle over the centuries. The Ephesos Museum displays the impressive remains of the ancient city where one of the Seven Wonders of the World once stood, the famous Temple of Artemis. The Collection of Historic Musical Instruments has at its disposal the world’s most important stock of Renaissance and Baroque instruments.

And the papyrus collection is, with over 180,000 objects, one of the largest of its kind in the world. UNESCO added the collection to its documentary heritage list in October 2001.