The art of green meetings

Enriching life

The Austrian capital has long been focused on sustainable urban development and its astonishing success can be seen by it consistently being voted the world's most liveable city.

Vienna’s incredible cultural offer attracts visitors, delegates and participants alike. And its magnificent museums are the latest of the city’s assets to be setting sustainability benchmarks. Seventeen museums have gained the Austrian Ecolabel certification, raising environmental standards in the arts and ensuring an increasingly desirable choice of venues whether for a networking event, a guided tour or exclusive and splendid dinner.

The Austrian Ecolabel is an independent national quality seal for sustainability and has been recognising environmentally friendly products and businesses since 1990. It assists event organisers in making green choices when choosing which suppliers to support.

Wien Museum 

Vienna's most high-profile museum, reopened in December 2023, is attracting an average of 15,000 people a week. The renovated and expanded Wien Museum on Karlsplatz now offers a new 276 sqm event hall while its spectacular terrace area and ground floor foyer can also be used for events. Tours can be arranged to view the exhibits documenting the fascinating history of the city. During a four-year refurbishment, numerous sustainability measures have been implemented including heating and air conditioning using geothermal energy, solar panels on the roof and the use of SageGlass, which darkens automatically. There is also a climate corridor in the permanent exhibition area, which has resulted in enormous energy savings. The museum and in-house event space have been awarded the Austrian Ecolabel.

Pratermuseum

Pratermuseum, with an excellent new function area, celebrated its reopening in March 2024 in a new three-storey building. Providing more space for its displays of curious objects that tell the story of the amusement park’s 250-year history, sustainability played a leading role in the planning. One of Vienna’s first public timber buildings, it uses photovoltaics, a heat pump and climate panels.

mumok

The mumok – Museum of Modern Art Ludwig Foundation Vienna - is expected to reopen in June following extensive renovations. The largest museum of modern and contemporary art in Central Europe, it has introduced measures to further reduce energy consumption and save 80 tons of drinking water each year. Its contemporary architecture offers stylish meeting space for up to 540 people.

Kunst Haus Wien

The Kunst Haus Wien, designed by artist and ecologist Friedensreich Hundertwasser and itself a work of art, became the first museum to be certified in 2018. After an extensive renovation project to improve its sustainability, it reopened earlier this year and now runs on hydrothermal energy and has improved its energy efficiency by 75 per cent.

Currently festival headquarters of the new Klima Biennale Wien (Vienna Climate Biennale), taking place until July 14, it will see 60 institutions addressing issues relating to the climate crisis and attempting to reconcile art and the environment. In the Kunst Haus, the ‘Into the Woods’ group exhibition focuses on the themes of forest and jungle.

From private openings to guided tours, it also offers a stylish meeting space for 20 people.

Spoilt for choice

There are many other museums available as memorable event venues that have achieved sustainability certification including the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Leopold Museum, Albertina, Belvedere 21, Upper and Lower Belvedere and Technisches Museum. Discover more here