★★★★★ 5.0
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University of Applied Arts Vienna
Over six hundred paintings got DESTROYED by the Nazis—yet Vienna named an entire square after the artist who created them. Oskar Kokoschka, born in 1886, was SO rebellious that Vienna kicked him out of art school when he was just nineteen years old. Standing right here on Oskar-Kokoschka-Platz in Vienna's Inner City, you're walking on a square named after artistic fearlessness. Inside this building, two thousand students study design every single day—learning to make things beautiful AND actually useful. Founded in 1867, this university was built on one radical idea: create things that change how people see the world. That's the spirit that still lives here.
Did You Know?
- : The University of Applied Arts Vienna, originally founded in 1863 as the Vienna School of Arts and Crafts, was the first institution of its kind on the European continent, pioneering advanced education for designers and craftsmen and serving as a model for later art schools, including the preliminary courses of the Weimar Bauhaus.
- The university has a legendary connection to the world of fashion: its fashion department has hosted guest professorships by global icons such as Karl Lagerfeld, Helmut Lang, Jil Sander, and Vivienne Westwood, making it a creative hub where students learn directly from the legends of the industry.
- Hidden within its walls is a rich archive documenting 150 years of artistic innovation, including early experiments in modern interior design that influenced the Wiener Werkstätte movement, and the university’s close historical ties to the MAK (Austrian Museum of Applied Arts/Contemporary Art) have helped shape Vienna’s global reputation in art and design.