Vienna Press Information – June 2026 25 Years of MuseumsQuartier Wien

June 1, 2026 – For 25 years, MuseumsQuartier Wien (MQ) has ranked among Europe’s largest cultural districts. The former imperial court stables have become the city’s open-air living room. Its mix of major museums, smaller cultural initiatives and stylish hangouts has proved a success story — one that will be celebrated in grand style throughout the 2026 anniversary year.

It was a cultural spectacle unlike anything Vienna had seen before: a three-day opening festival under the motto “Barock Meets Cyberspace.” With laser shows, daring dance performances, DJ beats and sounds echoing through the inner city, abundant pyrotechnics and a wide-ranging cultural program, MuseumsQuartier Wien officially opened in late June 2001 after two years of construction. At that time, Kunsthalle Wien moved into its new main building in the former Winter Riding Hall of the court stables, complemented by a contemporary extension. In September 2001, a second phase of ceremonial openings followed: mumok – museum of modern art ludwig foundation vienna and the Leopold Museum, along with Dance Quarter Vienna, WIENXTRA-Kinderinfo and ZOOM Children’s Museum.

Since then, with 90,000 square meters and more than 50 cultural institutions, MuseumsQuartier Wien has become one of Europe’s largest and best-known arts and cultural districts, alongside the Centre Pompidou in Paris and Berlin’s Museum Island.

Anniversary program

The 2026 anniversary year is being held under the motto “Generation MQ.” For its 25th birthday, MQ is celebrating a long, open-ended story told by a community of people who see MuseumsQuartier itself as a living work of art. Highlights of the anniversary program include:

The exhibition “Vision and Resistance – How MuseumsQuartier Wien Changed Vienna” at MQ Freiraum from June 30, 2026, to January 25, 2027
Hof Kunst Fest on the occasion of 25 years of MQ on July 2, with a program of readings, concerts, tours, and artistic interventions across the entire area. The program also includes O-Töne with Dimitri Dinev & Band, a reenactment by Peter Sandbichler, a solo performance by Doris Uhlich and many more.
Symposium “Museums Shape the Future" on September 29, dedicated to key questions about the future of museum operations: International and Austrian experts will join cultural practitioners to discuss topics such as the relationship between art and science, museums’ visions for the future and their ambition to actively help shape social participation.

From late May through September, numerous events and concerts will take place on the new green summer stage at MuseumsQuartier. The MQ Tunes music series will present young, emerging bands from Austria starting June 3. The O-Töne literature festival and the frame[o]ut film festival round out MQ’s summer offerings.

Special exhibitions at the museums

The major museums at MQ are also joining the celebrations, presenting outstanding exhibitions throughout the summer months.

At mumok, the highly anticipated first exhibition by new director Fatima Hellberg opens on June 20. Terminal Piece centers on the 1972 installation of the same name by U.S. artist, activist and writer Kate Millett. Conceived as the opening of a new chapter for the museum, the exhibition spans five floors, placing works from the collection in dialogue with newly conceived pieces. Through February 7, 2027.

To mark its 25th birthday, the Leopold Museum is dedicating a special exhibition to one of its founding supporters: the Oesterreichische Nationalbank (OeNB), which made a significant financial contribution in 1994 to the establishment of the Leopold Museum Private Foundation. Premiere! presents a selection from the bank’s extensive art collection, featuring Austrian painting and sculpture from 1918 to the present. Through October 11.

Kunsthalle Wien, meanwhile, is currently presenting Lives and Works in Vienna. Contemporary Art from Vienna at its two locations, MQ and Karlsplatz – it is the institution’s largest survey of contemporary art from Vienna in more than ten years. More than 130 works by 56 artists living and working in Vienna are on view, spanning painting, sculpture, installation, drawing, photography, performance, sound, film and video. The exhibition is being held for the fifth time. Through Oct. 26, 2026.

A visionary transformation

The history of today’s MuseumsQuartier began 300 years ago. The complex was built in the 18th century as the imperial court stables, based on plans by the celebrated Austrian Baroque architect Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach. Together with the Hofburg, the Neue Burg, the Kunsthistorisches Museum and the Natural History Museum, the site was originally intended to form the endpoint of the planned “Kaiserforum.” That vision, however, was never realized.

After the end of the monarchy in 1918, the court stables had outlived their original purpose. Beginning in 1921, the expansive grounds took on a new role as the so-called “Messepalast,” an exhibition venue for trade fairs. After Messe Wien moved out in the 1980s, numerous ideas emerged for repurposing the site. Following lengthy debate, an architectural competition was eventually launched for an arts and cultural center. The historic architecture was to be complemented by contemporary buildings. Architects Laurids and Manfred Ortner won the competition. Their design was bold: a reading tower as a cultural symbol and landmark, modern museum buildings and an open urban structure were intended to usher in a new era of urban development in Vienna. But the project proved polarizing. The originally planned reading and library tower was abandoned in the face of public opposition. Ortner & Ortner had to scale back the overall project architecturally.

A cultural temple and open-air living room

Today, MQ is an indispensable part of Vienna’s cultural landscape. On one hand, it is a top-tier arts and culture venue with international appeal. Its program ranges from fine art, architecture, music, fashion, theater, dance and literature to children’s culture, design and photography. On the other, MQ is an accessible public space open at all times: a place to meet, linger and spend time; with its courtyards, cafés, outdoor seating and shops, it is also an oasis of relaxation in the middle of the city.

The first major expansion of MuseumsQuartier since the 2001 opening came with the MQ Libelle. The cultural terrace on the roof of the Leopold Museum opened in September 2020. With free admission, it offers sweeping views over the cultural district and the inner city, extending all the way to Vienna’s nearby hills. The curved, fully glazed structure by Laurids Ortner was conceived as a Gesamtkunstwerk, with artistic interventions by Brigitte Kowanz and Eva Schlegel. On the terrace, Brigitte Kowanz’s iconic Light Circles create a particularly atmospheric setting.

MQ – Work in Progress

Today, a quarter-century after its opening, MQ is firmly woven into Vienna’s urban fabric. It is popular, vibrant – and far from finished. On the contrary: there is still room for a new museum. In the future, the House of Austrian History, or hdgö, is set to find a home at MQ. The opening of the new sustainably built timber structure is planned for 2028. By 2030, MQ is also to become climate-neutral. Current measures to remove pavement, unseal surfaces and green the courtyards are part of that effort. With natural shade, relaxing on the famous MQ courtyard furniture — the so-called Enzis — becomes even more appealing. The Enzis have become one of MQ’s signature features and appear in a different color each year. This year, they come in “Punschkrapferl” pink and “Sodazitrone” yellow.