Café Museum
Café Museum is a traditional Viennese café opened in 1899 in the first district of Vienna. It is best known for its austere interior by Adolf Loos and for having been a meeting place for artists and writers.
History
The café occupies a building dating from 1872. Ludwig Frisch opened it in 1899 and chose its name in reference to the nearby Café zum Museum, next to the Kunsthistorisches Museum. Its plain furnishings, built around bentwood chairs by the firm Thonet, were far more restrained than those of its rivals, and that simplicity earned it the nickname "Café Nihilismus", coined by the writer Ludwig Hevesi.
Its early twentieth-century regulars included Peter Altenberg, Alban Berg, Karl Kraus, Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, Robert Musil, Joseph Roth and Egon Schiele. In the early 1930s Josef Zotti remodelled the room with lodges and half-round sofas. The 2003 renovation recovered Loos's design, although it was criticised for lacking authenticity and comfort.
Culture
Café Museum belongs to the Viennese coffee house tradition as a place for reading, conversation and long working sessions. Its discreet facade, with gold letters on a white background, reflects the same idea of simplicity that guided its interior. Since 2011 it has hosted regular literary readings, which keep its ties to the city's cultural life. Nearby landmarks such as the Naschmarkt and Karlsplatz place it on a busy route.