Museum für angewandte Kunst, Österreichisches, MAK

Museum of Applied Art, (Museum für angewandte Kunst, MAK), Austrian, 1864 founded as the 1^st crafts museum on the continent ("k. k. Österreichisches Museum für Kunst und Industrie"/"Imperial Austrian Museum for Art and Industry", current name since 1947), national museum in a building by H von Ferstel, (1906-1909 and enlarged 1989-1993) in Vienna´s 1^st district. It comprises textiles (from late Antiquity to the present), porcelain (e.g. from the Vienna Porzellanmanufaktur), glasses, goldsmithery, enamelwork and jewellery (Middle Ages to present day), furniture (Middle Ages to present day, Admont folding chair from the beginning of the 13^th century, bentwood furniture by the Thonet Brothers), Oriental and East Asia Collections, illustrated manuscripts (the largest collection in the world of illustrated manuscripts from the Hamza Nama, a book in the highest tradition of Indo-Persian painting dating back to the 16^th century), also designs by G. Klimt for the frieze of mosaic decorations at Stoclet Palace (Brussels), the artistic estate and artefacts of the Wiener Werkstätte, architectural models and drawings by R. Abraham, F. O. Gehry, Coop Himmelb(l)au , L. Woods and H. Richter as well as works by D. Judd, A. Rainer, B. Gironcolli, F. West and of the installation artists V. Acconci, J. Kabakov, E. Schlegel and C. Burden, J. Turrell etc. Affiliate institutes are at Geymüller Palace (Sobek Collection) in Vienna´s 18^th district and the MAK-Gegenwartskunstdepot Museum in the Anti-Aircraft Tower Arenbergpark in Vienna´s 3^rd district. The MAK is a Federal Museum and was turned into a legally independent scientific institution on January 1, 2000.

Literature: MAK (ed.), Tradition und Experiment, 1988; C. Reder, Ein Museum im Aufbruch, 1991; Museumsführer MAK, ²1995; MAK (ed.), Kunst und Industrie. Die Anfänge des Mus. für angewandte Kunst in Wien, exhibition catalogue, 2000.