The Vienna Museum of Science and Technology offers extraordinary insights into the world of technology in an exhibition area of around 22,000 square metres. Here, unique historical objects engage in dialogue with new technologies, exciting demonstrations bring exhibits to life, and numerous hands-on stations invite visitors to join in and try things out. Technology and the ways it affects society become a living adventure in this museum!

The TMW is the only museum in the world that has exhibits from the earliest days of Lobmeyr—around 1830—in its collection. These pieces cannot be considered Lobmeyr glass in the narrowest of senses, as they are not based on the company’s own designs, but were merely traded by company founder Josef Lobmeyr. However, they do represent an important documentation of Lobmeyr’s founding years. The exhibits are from the “Imperial and Royal Factory Products Cabinet”, a collection of industrially manufactured products made in the Austrian Empire that later became the basis for founding the technical museum.

The Imperial and Royal Factory Products Cabinet was founded by Emperor Franz I on 11 September 1807 with the goal of documenting the progress of industry from throughout the empire by creating a collection of “samples and excellent products” exemplifying the early industrialisation of the country. In 2004, the Museum of Science and Technology dedicated a special exhibition to this extraordinary collection, titled “Mass Production — Luxury Goods. Technology from Biedermeier to the Vienna World’s Fair 1804 to 1873”.

Fotocredits: ©Technische Museum Wien