On 11 and 12 January, the Committee on Culture, Youth, Sports and Media of the Flemish Parliament paid a visit to Vienna. The main purpose of the visit was to take note of recent developments in the rich landscape of the Viennese museums and to learn more about the strategic vision of directors of cultural institutions.
As the Pieter Bruegel exposition is an absolute must-do when visiting Vienna, the Committee firstly visited the Kunsthistorisch Museum Wien. Prof. Manfred Sellink, co-curator of the exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum led the delegation through this extraordinary, ‘once-in-a-lifetime’ collection of masterpieces.
During a visit to the Gemäldegalerie der Akademie der bildenden Künste, Dr. Claudia Koch provided more explanation on the work of masterly artist Hieronymus Bosch. Dr. Christoph Benedik led the members of the parliament through the Prunksäle, which is very closely related to Brussels and the Netherlands, and has been thoroughly restored since 2003.
At the General Representation of the Government of Flanders, Representative David Maenaut organised a meeting with leading figures for the cultural sector in Vienna. Administrator-general of VISITFLANDERS, Peter De Wilde, also present in Vienna, presented during a work lunch the first results of the Flemish Masters programme. Finally, the delegation visited the Haus der Geschichte Österreich, a new museum which aims to conduct an open dialogue on the history of the hundred-year-old Republic of Austria.
In short, a well-filled programme with the common thread: relevance, growth and conversion of large museums at the beginning of the 21th century.
General Representation of the Government of Flanders in Austria
