Globe Museum Museum

Address: Josefsplatz 1, 1010 Vienna, Austria

Website: https://www.globenmuseum.at/

Hours: Tue-Sun 10am-6pm, closed Mondays

The Globe Museum in Vienna is a specialist museum that preserves and displays historic terrestrial and celestial globes and related cartographic instruments, and is part of the collections of the Austrian National Library.

Exhibits cover globe-making techniques and the history of mapping from the early modern period through later centuries, featuring examples of early printed globes, scientific models and explanatory panels. The museum is compact and aimed at visitors interested in cartography, history of science and navigational instruments.

The collection has been assembled from the library’s historic holdings and other acquisitions and is maintained as a specialist research and display collection within Vienna’s cultural institutions.

The museum is located in Vienna and is accessible to visitors to the city; it functions as both a public exhibition space and a reference collection for researchers.

• Collection highlights: Displays include globes and models from the early modern period onward and are of interest to visitors studying the history of cartography and navigation.
• Visit duration: The museum is part of the national library’s collections and is relatively compact; typical visits take 30-60 minutes depending on interest in detailed displays.

What to See#

• Terrestrial globes: A collection of historic terrestrial globes that illustrate the development of geographic knowledge and globe-making techniques from the early modern period to the 20th century.
• Celestial globes: Collections of celestial globes and related instruments used to illustrate historical astronomy and navigation, often shown alongside cartographic maps and explanatory displays.

The Globe Museum (Globenmuseum) is in central Vienna (Innere Stadt) near the Hofburg. Take the U‑Bahns to Stephansplatz (U1/U3) or Herrengasse (U3) or Schottentor (U2) and then walk about 5-10 minutes to the museum. From Vienna International Airport it is about 20 km into the city center via the A4 motorway; you can also take the City Airport Train or S‑/U‑Bahn to the center and then transfer to the U‑Bahn.

• Go early in the day when the Globe Museum is less likely to be crowded - the collection is compact, so you can see the highlights in 30-45 minutes without tour groups.
• The museum is housed within the Austrian National Library complex; combine your visit with nearby library exhibits and the Hofburg area to make the short trip worthwhile.
• Take time with the display labels and scale models: many visitors breeze through the room and miss the historical annotations that explain provenance and craftsmanship of the oldest globes.