This museum, as you probably guessed by its name is not an art museum.

But because it has at least one piece of art that we really like, this natural history museum has the great honor and prestige of being featured on our website. You’re welcome, Naturhistorisches Museum. You’re welcome Vienna. You’re welcome, world.

This museum is huge. As of 2011, the museum housed over 30 million objects. That’s almost as many objects as they throw out on each episode of Hoarders. The only building suitable to hold these millions of objects without needing professionals to come clear everything out is, of course, an “elaborate palace.” The museum itself, being such a fancy building, can be considered part of the collection.  #Meta.

A lot of the exhibits are different kinds of rocks (minerals, meteorites, fossils, it’s all the same). There are also dead animals all over the place. Seriously, this place does not sound cut out for the usual artsy crowd. But somewhere amidst all the rocks and carcasses, there is art, and it is worth seeing.

Then again...there’s also the Kunsthistorisches Museum, aka Art History Museum. It’s right across the way from the Natural History Museum. They face each other. They’re identical. No one could blame you if you meant to go to the Natural History Museum to check out the prehistoric art and accidentally wound up in the Art History Museum looking at Archduke Leopold Wilhelm’s ridiculously huge art collection.