Going Medical in Alsergrund:
Josephinum & Freud Museum Vienna

The area of Alsergrund is Vienna’s ninth district and despite of its predominantly ugly architectural heritage dating back to the time of the Ringstraßen-re-vamping, it is a refreshingly lively and lovely district. This is mostly due to thousands of students that live in this district, which is close to the main University building.

Particularly med students like to stay here, as Austria’s biggest hospital, the “Allgemeines Krankenhaus AKH” (“General Hospital”) covers a fair chunk of the district. In fact, the AKH is ways too big and it has proved to be a logistic disaster on many occasions, but it was the time of big public spending when it was built in the 1960ies and 1970ies and Socialist Wonderland Austria wanted a big medical toy for its glorious doctors.

Anyways, the AKH is a traditional institution dating back to the time of Emperor Joseph II (the guy from the movie “Amadeus”). The original, 18th century campus now serves various institutes of the Medical University as a venue and there are bars popular among students. A sibling institution to the AKH was the “Josephinum”, named after its founder – once again, Emperor Joseph II. Opened in 1785, this academy aimed to improve the art of surgery. In the course of his quite frequent military strikes, Joseph II had noticed that surgeons were hard to distinguish from butchers and aimed to formalise the teaching and research in this field.

Freud-Sightseeing & Surgery

The Josephinum thus focussed on military surgery until it was closed in 1872. Today, it serves as a museum and still houses much of its original equipment. This includes a study collection of anatomical specimens made from wax, the so-called “Wachspräparate Sammlung”. These models show with quite a remarkable degree of quality where to cut and where better not to cut if in doubt – practical advice for surgery. Despite – or because of – its specialist topic, the Josephinum is among Vienna’s most charming museums.

A bit down the Währingerstraße Road you will cross Berggasse, famous for one particular resident and his couch. In Berggasse 19, you can find the Freud Museum, where Sigmund and his fam lived between 1872 and 1938, when he wisely headed off to London to deprive the Nazis of an opportunity to kill him. His flat in the second floor was a site Freudian worship a long time before it was finally transformed into a museum.

Here you can see his hat, stick and some other personal items and you will soon notice that essentially all of the Freud family’s possessions either went with them to London or was sold prior to departure. The things on display today nevertheless manage to create an atmosphere that feels authentic – including photographs of the family.

In a nutshell: Not the most amazing museum of Vienna, but worth a visit if you are into psychology or a twit yourself. By the way, when I was researching information on Austria online in April 2007, I discovered that the BBC website named Freud and Wittgenstein as two great Austrian thinkers – without even mentioning that both of them died with British citizenship in England. Further attractions nearby include the Schubert birthplace, the Votivkirche, the amazing Palais Liechtenstein Art Museum and the Währinger Friedhof cemetery including Vienna’s oldest Jewish cemetery that is still maintained.

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Sightseeing in other Provinces

Bregenz and Vorarlberg - Innsbruck and Tyrol - Salzburg - Linz & Upper Austria - Salzkammergut - Graz and Styria - Klagenfurt and Carinthia - Wachau and Lower Austria - Vienna - Burgenland

Further Reading

Official website of the Vienna Tourist Information

Information on the Josephinum

Official Website of the Freud Museum Vienna