Join us for an interesting visit to the home museum of one the biggest names in medical history, a renovator who changed the lives of millions of people, for better or for worse, you tell us. Let us have a look at the Sigmund Freud museum in Vienna!
When you come to Berggasse 19 in Vienna, just like Freund’s patients did over 100 years ago, you’ll find yourself at the door and ring the bell of the Professor.
Come in and you will see the home museum of one of the most fascinating persons in the medical history. It was Freud who came up with the idea of the psychiatrist’s couch and although the original went with him to London when he fled the Nazis, the museum has a copy and you can visit the very room where he had it for his patients!
On top of that, there is much more to see: his original doorplate, his doctor’s case from the time when he was a plain doctor dealing with regular patients, some of his original furniture - including that of the patients’ waiting room, just to name a few! The influence of psychoanalysis on art and society is displayed in a modern art collection and an exhibition about interpreting our dreams.
Once inside, you will see that the museum is actualy not only about Freud and psychoanalysis but also a warning memorial about the loss of humanity under the terror of the Nazis. Among others, there is a section with the history of the house and the people who lived there (apparently, the Nazis housed there Jews prior to their deportation to concentration camps and gas chambers).
Freud moved to the new building in 1891 and lived there for 47 years and produced the majority of his writings in the rooms now open for you and me to see. In 1938 Freud was forced to leave German-annexed Austria due to his Jewish ancestry, and he fled to London. The museum was opened in 1971 by the Sigmund Freud Society in the presence of Anna Freud.
The museum consists of Freud's former practice and a part of his old private quarters. Attached to the museum are Europe's largest psychoanalytic research library with ovr 35,000 volumes. Freud’s psychoanalysis, the “talking cure” is witnessed with numerous case histories and texts in Freud’s former treatment room.
The private rooms of the family highlight Freud’s life as a father and his career path as a young physician and neurologist with his hospital documents, medicinal instruments and travel toiletry kits.
The display includes original items owned by Freud, the practice's waiting room, and parts of Freud's extensive antique collection. Some original furniture has been found and put on show, too. Freud managed to take his furniture with him when he emigrated and his famous patient couch is now exhibited there.
The Freud sisters' estate includes documentation of their planned emigration. After Freud's departure in June 1938, four of his five sisters stayed in Vienna. All attempts to bring them out of Austria failed as they did not get foreign visas to travel. All four were deported to concentration camps and killed.
The renovated and expanded museum was only opened in 2020 after significant works that made the museum much better. The museum is now fully accessible with a lift taking you between floors. The only exception is the the history of the house on the stairwell, which obviously means steps for that part of the museum. For an accessible entry, come through the café/museum shop door, on the right of the main entry and you get directly to the ticket counter and the lift. The lockers for your bag and the loos, including the accessible one, are in the basement where you get easily with a lift.
There is a small café inviting you to a selection of coffee and drinks from Vienna, including "Edition Sigmund Freud Museum” champagne from the Viennese Kattus, as well as a choice of cakes and pastries. If this is not enough, there are lovely cafés on both sides of the museum, one even called Café Freud.
The museum shop is mostly books - very interesting books - but you can also find some souvenirs, too.
Sigmund Freud Museum
Berggasse 19, 1090 Wien
https://www.freud-museum.at/en/