The Imperial Natural History Museum or Imperial Royal Natural History Court Museum of Austria-Hungary was created by (Kaiser) Emperor Franz Joseph I during an extensive reorganization of the museum collections, from 1851–1876, and opened to the public on August 10, 1889. Located in Vienna, the Museum was named in German as "K.k. Naturhistorisches Hofmuseum" (with "Hofmuseum" translated as "Court Museum").
Later, the Museum became part of the Natural History Museum of Vienna, Austria (in German, "Naturhistorisches Museum Wien" or NHM-Wien).
When officially begun in 1876, Austrian geologist Ferdinand von Hochstetter (1829–1884) became the first superintendent of the Imperial Natural History Museum, after having been, from 1860, professor of mineralogy and geology at the Imperial-Royal Polytechnic Institute in Vienna. In 1886, Austrian geologist and paleontologist Franz Ritter von Hauer became second superintendent of the Imperial Natural History Museum (more at "History" below).
The main building for the Museum was constructed between 1871-1891.
See more about the current museum at: Naturhistorisches Museum.
Read more about Imperial Natural History Museum: History
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