Museum of Military History

The Museum of Military History in Vienna's Arsenal complex is Austria's oldest and largest military museum, documenting Habsburg and Austrian armed forces from the 16th century onward. Opened in 1869 after the 1848 revolutions, the building was designed by Theophil Hansen and Ludwig Foerster in a Byzantine-Moorish hybrid style as part of the vast Arsenal barracks. Its most famous artifact is the open Graef and Stift automobile in which Archduke Franz Ferdinand was shot in Sarajevo on 28 June 1914, displayed alongside his bloodstained uniform and the bullet that triggered World War I. Halls contain Tilly cuirasses from the Thirty Years War, Ottoman trophies from the 1683 siege, and a complete Panzer turret. Visitors walk through marble halls lined with frescoes of Austrian battles, then into wings devoted to both world wars featuring original aircraft and a V2 rocket in the courtyard.