Small Group History Tour of Vienna Art Nouveau: Discover Otto Wagner's City Trains
4.8
18 Ratings
Wien

Begin a half-day journey through history with a scholar-guided tour of Vienna’s Art Nouveau Metro Stations and its renowned Art Nouveau edifices. Acquire knowledge about the stylistic components, political context and aesthetic principles of the sophisticated style from the turn of the century.

Duration: 3 hours
Cancellation: 1 day learn more
Highlights
  • Otto Wagner Pavillon Karlsplatz - Starting out at the beautiful pavilion at Karlsplatz, we lay a foundation for our discussion by visiting the small Wagner Museum.
  • Stadtpark - From here we walk to the Stadtpark station, the best preserved of the original metro stations still in use. Here we will start to delve into some of the design elements. One of the most remarkable features of this station is the adjoining artificial riverbed constructed for the little Vienna river, since the waterway needed to be rechanneled when the city train was built and one of the major issues was how to integrate the realigned river into the new city landscape.
  • Secession - Our next metro stop visit will be Kettenbrücke station. On our way we visit and explore the famous Sezession art building, the icon par excellence of Viennese Jugendstil, as well as two beautiful apartment houses by Otto Wagner. Here we will flesh out the philosophy behind Jugendstil and consider the symbols and materials favored by its practitioners.

From Kettenbrücke station we will step onto the metro for our last stop, a visit to the imperial station. This outstanding building was erected outside the Schönbrunn castle solely for the Emperor to

use. The crown jewel of the line, this station had a symbolic meaning as well, namely to show critics of Vienna’s metro that the emperor supported the line. In this small but dynamic building, we will recognize all the elements that we encountered throughout the walk and at the other stations, while also noting the methods used by Wagner to translate the generally bourgeois style of Art Nouveau into an aesthetic with imperial grandiosity.

What's Included
  • 3-hour guided tour of Vienna’s iconic Art Nouveau architecture
  • Professional guide provides expert insights
What's Not Included
  • Food and drinks, unless specified
  • Hotel pickup and drop-off
  • Entrance fees: From April to October, when the museum is open, this tour incorporates a visit to the Otto Wagner Pavilion. Admission fees are as following: €5 for General admission €4 for Senior citizens, students, holders of Vienna Card and persons with disabilities
  • Entrance fees: If you tour on Tuesday to Sunday, €9,50 Adults and €6 students and seniors admission to Secession House to see Gustave Klimt’s famous Beethoven Frieze. Your guide will help you to pay.
Additional Information
  • A maximum of 8 people per booking
Location
Operngasse 7
Operngasse
Please meet your guide outside Café Museum, Operngasse 7A-1010 Vienna, Austria
Cancellation Policy

For a full refund, cancel at least 24 hours before the scheduled departure time.

Customer Ratings
4.8
(18 Ratings)
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Iolanda_j
Jan 19, 2024
Fascinating tour - strongly recommended - My husband and I were absolutely delighted with this fascinating tour. Our cultural guide, a charming and incredibly knowledgeable lawyer with a keen affinity for architecture and Austrian history gave us one of the best visits in a long traveling life. We've been to Vienna multiple times and visited quite a few of its stunning Jugendstil monuments, but he still managed to show us buildings we didn't know, share new insights and anecdotes, and make us forget the cold and damp weather in the process. It was a memorable experience that we strongly recommend.
Review provided by Viator
Sara_r
Nov 25, 2023
Highly recommend if you are passionate about art and architecture - Jan was very interesting and passionate about Vienna. The blight was the succession building and the Beethoven frieze. Highly recommend
Review provided by Viator
Mavellaneda
Nov 11, 2023
Unmissable if you love Art Nouveau! - Can’t say enough great things about our Art Nouveau tour with Ilse. Her knowledge of the topic as well as her ability to put art nouveau in Vienna in the context of the political and architectural development of the time and the city was extremely informative and interesting. She also went above and beyond to show and share so many examples and interesting facts. Absolutely LOVED this tour! Wish we had arranged a similar tour with Insight Cities in Budapest as we also found beautiful art nouveau there. Also did the Vienna City of Music tour with Annelie. Insight Cities has amazing guides and very special tours… highly recommended!
Review provided by Tripadvisor
Mavellaneda
Nov 9, 2023
Fabulous your, super knowledgeable guide - Can’t say enough about our guide Ilse. Very knowledgeable… and such a pleasure to listen to… provided great context of the history of art nouveau in Vienna relative to the political and architectural development of the city. AMAZING… don’t miss it! Start with this tour as you will want to explore even more on your own afterwards! Enjoy!
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Will_i
Nov 1, 2023
Great afternoon. Well worth it! - It was a pretty cold and rainy day and we weren’t super excited to be out in the weather. Fortunately our guide called and offered to take us by car so we wouldn’t be soaked and that was greatly appreciated. We loved seeing the Klimt in Secession Museum and learning all the bldg and the movement behind it. Learning about Otto Wagner and getting to see many different examples of his work was so wonderful.
Review provided by Viator
Denise_c
Oct 7, 2023
Art and travel in Vienna - Stephan was a wonderful guide! He was very knowledgeable about the city and about art and art nouveau. He was willing to adjust the tour to accommodate the travelers in our group and provided us with suggestions of places to visit/eat during our stay. An added bonus: as a result of the tour, we learned how to navigate the public trains and transportation system in and around Vienna!
Review provided by Viator
Stephane_r
Apr 9, 2023
Excellent tour ! - Our guide was absolutely perfect : passionate and highly competent! Incredible knowledge, she had a pertinent and adapted answer to all our requests or questions
Review provided by Viator
Dmitriy
Oct 11, 2021
Amazing 3 hours in Vienna with Annelie - I don't think I ever met a tour guide as educated and well versed in the history, art, geography and social life of the place we're visiting as Annelie Pichler. Will be sure to book her next time we are in Vienna! Thank you so much for the tour and caring for us for three hours in Vienna, Annelie!
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Allison_a
Oct 9, 2021
Great guide! - Angelina was a perfect guide- very friendly and prepared. She was willing to go the extra mile to make sure we saw everything we wanted to see!
Review provided by Viator
Anne_k
Jun 7, 2021
if one wants to dig deaper - Very individual guidance. Profound information about culture, art and history. Now you feel very well informed and educated.
Review provided by Viator
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July 2024
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