Core Mission

The university archives of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts sees as its main task to preserve and process historical holdings, to document the current activities of the Academy of Fine Arts and to make available archival holdings for administrative purposes and for scientific research and teaching.

Historically, the university archives of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts have had an administrative function, serving to this day as a repository for student lists, administrative files, the minutes of collegium meetings and other documents dating back to the founding of the academy.

The main holdings of the university archives, the administrative archives and the student files extend almost all the way back to 1726. Special holdings such as statutes, old inventories, construction documents and the like offer further insight into the history of the Vienna Academy of Fine Arts.

Today the archives also collect material documenting the artistic and scientific activities of the various institutes of the Academy as well as those of the academy as a whole (exhibition and administrative documents).

The university archives contain primarily administrative documents. Artistic and pictorial works are preserved in the collections affiliated with the academy - the Painting Gallery and the Collection of Etchings.

Since the beginning of 2006 the university archives are a part of the university library and are located on the ground floor of the main building of the Academy of Fine Arts.