Built in the latter half of the 17th century, the Albertina Museum (situated across from the Vienna State Opera House) sits on the Augustion Bastion, one of the last remaining sections of Vienna's ancient fortifications. In 1744, the Director of the Court Construction Office, Count Silva-Tarouca refurbished the building to be his palace, aka Palais Tarouca. After it was finished, however, Duke Albert of Saxan-Tescher took it over for his home. Albert was an avid art collector and his friend, Count Giancomo Dunazzo, Austrian Ambassador in Venice, in 1776, donated 1000 pieces of art to the Duke and his wife Maria Christina. Two hundred years later (1919) ownership of the Albertina Palace, as it had become known, passed from the Hapsburgs to the newly founded Republic of Austria. During World War II (March 1945) the Palace/museum was damaged by bombings but was later rebuilt to its former glory. On the upper floors of the building are the 21 Hapsburg State Rooms in which Duke Albert and Maria Christina lived with their family.
The next series of pictures depict some of the 21 Hapsburg State Rooms the Duke Albert and his wife Maria Christina lived in while in Vienna.