The MuseumsQuartier

The MuseumsQuartier, the MQ, is where Vienna's imperial past and its contemporary culture meet. Behind the long Baroque facade of the former court stables, designed by Fischer von Erlach in the eighteenth century and facing the Kunsthistorisches Museum across the Ring, a complex of old and new buildings opened in 2001 as one of the largest cultural districts in the world. Two striking modern blocks stand in the main courtyard: the white limestone cube of the Leopold Museum and the dark basalt block of mumok, the museum of modern art. The Leopold Museum holds the world's largest collection of Egon Schiele, along with major works by Klimt, Kokoschka and the artists and designers of the Vienna Secession and the Wiener Werkstaette, making it the essential complement to the Belvedere for Vienna around 1900. mumok shows twentieth and twenty-first century art, from Pop Art and Viennese Actionism to contemporary installations. Around them are the Kunsthalle Wien, with changing contemporary exhibitions, the Architekturzentrum Wien, the ZOOM Children's Museum, dance and performance spaces and dozens of smaller cultural initiatives, shops, cafés and restaurants. The best part may be free: the courtyards are open around the clock and are one of the city's favourite meeting places, filled with the Enzis, the giant colourful loungers that have become a symbol of the MQ, with bars and terraces that come alive on summer evenings and seasonal programmes through the year. The MQ Point information centre and shop at the main entrance sells tickets for the museums, including a combined ticket for the main institutions. Whether you come for Schiele, for a coffee in the courtyard, or simply on the way between the Ring and the shopping streets of Neubau, the MQ shows Vienna as a modern, creative city as well as an imperial one.

Choosing your museum: the Leopold Museum is the priority for most visitors, with Schiele's self-portraits and landscapes, Klimt's Death and Life, and fine rooms of Viennese design and furniture; allow two hours. mumok is for modern art lovers, with a strong collection that changes its displays regularly, and the Kunsthalle's exhibitions are worth checking for the current show. Families should look at the ZOOM Children's Museum, with hands-on exhibitions and creative workshops for different age groups, which often need booking ahead. A combined ticket covers the main institutions and is worthwhile if you plan to see two or more.

The courtyards and the scene: the MQ's open spaces are a social hub for the Viennese, especially from spring to autumn, when the Enzis fill with people reading, chatting and drinking from the courtyard bars, and in summer there are open-air events, readings and DJ sets. The colour of the Enzis changes over time and has even been put to a public vote. The cafés and restaurants around the courtyards serve everything from coffee and cake to full meals and late drinks. Bicycles and scooters must be parked in the courtyards rather than ridden through them.

Location and connections: the MQ sits at Museumsplatz 1 in the 7th district, with the U2 at Museumsquartier and the U2 and U3 at Volkstheater right outside, and the Kunsthistorisches Museum and Hofburg directly across the Ring. Behind it, the Spittelberg quarter has Biedermeier lanes, restaurants and a Christmas market, and Mariahilfer Strasse, Vienna's longest shopping street, runs along the southern side. Public toilets, free Wi-Fi and cash machines are available on the site. The MQ Point information centre and shop at the main entrance, open daily from 10am to 7pm, is the place to pick up the combined ticket and current programmes, and on a rainy day you can move between the museums, cafés and shops with only a few steps outdoors, which makes the MQ a reliable bad-weather plan.