The Ephesus Museum

Generally I won't be sharing pictures from the Museums I visit on my travels. In my opinion Museums are meant to be experienced and don't lend themselves to excellent photographic subjects. I usually only take pictures for myself and more as a quick note so that I can remember what items I found particularly fascinating. By this point during my time in Vienna I had already visited the Art History Museum where I spent four hours immersing myself in the artwork without really taking any pictures. For the Ephesus Museum I had to make an exception. It is in the Neue Burg (part of the Hofburg) and not only are the recovered sculptures amazing but the building itself, that houses the artifacts, is beautiful.

The part of the Hofburg where the Ephesus Museum is located is within the curved section that faces Heldenplatz square. In these images you can see the curve of the building in this wide staircase gallery. This space was just absolutely amazing. I loved how the building was adorned with beautiful chandeliers, marble columns, and the ornamentation on the ceilings and walls.

This building is the perfect host for these artifacts. They look perfectly in place within the beautifully adorned room. Even the stands look like they fit in with the room's overall aesthetic.

This image shows another room, down on the ground floor, and again the archeological relief tablets look perfectly situated on the walls of the room. These artifacts were from the Parthian Monument. Apparently it was quite broken down when found and archeologists still debate over the proper way it should be reconstructed and arranged.

I just wanted to share a couple of close ups. The first image is part of a full bronze statue that was completely shattered. The archeologist had to reconstruct all the pieces together and in this close up you can see the joins where the statue had originally been broken. Many of the displays where of artifacts that had been painstakingly reconstructed from broken pieces.

The second image was from a relief that would have adorned a play house. I found this face quite funny as it highlights the larger than life expressions often seen in plays. Or, for those who love memes, the shocked Pikachu face.

There was also this model of Ephesus made from contour lines, which I found really cool. There were some stairs situated for the sole purpose of getting a better vantage point of the model, this is where I took the picture from.

And here is a picture of the entrance to the Museum. The Ephesus Museum is accessed with the same ticket as the Museum of Austrian History (hdgö), I visited this exhibit as well and I found it fascinating but far more from the history perspective rather than the raw beauty of the Ephesus Museum. The Austrian History Museum focused on the modern history of Austria, from the end of the first world war. I was particularly fascinated by how Austria went from a democracy to a dictatorship in the years leading up to the second world war. I think there are many lessons we can learn from this and it is a good reminder that liberty and democracy is not a guarantee but something that must be fought for.

I hope this post gave you a little taste of the Ephesus Museum. I highly recommend it and I would encourage you to go there if you are ever get a chance. Even just an hour to enjoy the beautiful atmosphere of the Museum.

Thanks for reading – Edward

Written 23rd of December 2023

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