Sustainability at the ALBERTINA Museum

The Journey Toward Sustainable Art

For nearly 250 years, the ALBERTINA Museum has devoted itself to collecting and preserving art as well as facilitating art-related education and experience. The museum has been privileged to welcome and safely house works by numerous great artists in its halls over the course of its long history—and its mission of cultural preservation goes hand in hand with the obligation to pursue a strategy that ensures a sustainable future.

We seek to do justice to this imperative by committing the ALBERTINA Museum to the cause of sustainability and the associated Sustainable Development Goals. Our intention is to reduce our facilities’ environmental footprint to a minimum without having to sacrifice the high standard to which we adhere in our presentation of artworks. It is a desire of ours to take you with us on this journey. To this end, we invite you to read the following summary of all information relevant to the topic of sustainability at the ALBERTINA Museum.

OUR SUSTAINABILITY CONCEPT IN BRIEF
As one of Austria’s leading art museums, the ALBERTINA Museum opens its doors to visitors 365 days a year. People from all over the world are thus afforded year-round, barrier-free access to one-of-a-kind artworks, an experience that addresses the intellect and the senses in equal measure.
In this spirit, the ALBERTINA Museum is mindful of its mission as a bearer of cultural responsibility and declares its commitment to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of 2015.

Our Emphases at a Glance:

Ensuring access to high-quality education in the realm of art and culture.
The ALBERTINA Museum does justice to this intent not only by opening its halls but also through educational guided tours and children’s master classes.

Protecting our employees’ physical and mental health and ensuring their well-being.
This includes making available both occupational healthcare and psychological support as well as life phase-oriented working hours, courses on health-related topics, and childcare.

Promoting equality by setting a good example.
The inclusive working atmosphere at the ALBERTINA Museum is reflected in the diversity of our staff. Furthermore, a well-cultivated combination of designated confidantes and human resource management offers safe places to turn to whenever conflicts do arise.

Practicing a responsible approach to resource consumption.
The establishment of a high-quality consumption monitoring system permits the step by step optimization of our energy use. Problems can thus be rapidly identified and corrected, ensuring an efficient approach.

A Living Commitment to Climate Neutrality
Austrian Ecolabel certification, a commitment to CO2 neutrality and the consequent assessment of our CO2 footprint, the conduct of a sweeping energy audit, and the complete modernization of our in-house measurement and control technology are just a few examples of how the ALBERTINA Museum is working actively to protect the Earth’s climate.

It’s a journey of many steps…
…that we’ve set out on together in order to ensure a better future for us all. The ALBERTINA Museum invites you to come along with us and thereby help to preserve the environment, art, and culture.
Our Sustainability Concept (PDF, 143 kB)

ALBERTINA Museum, exterior view | Photo © ALBERTINA Museum

Child in the ALBERTINA Museum | Photo © Marko Mestrovic

Reduction of Emissions

In order to implement this project, we have already initiated an assessment of our CO2 emissions over the past few years and begun documenting them as a running balance. The findings produced by this effort will help us reduce emissions-intensive processes and pave the ALBERTINA Museum’s way toward climate neutrality. The following table charts our CO2 footprint’s recent development:

Certified Environmentally Conscious

A further important step has been Austrian Ecolabel certification, which was attained in January 2023.
Following an extensive application process that entailed intensive work concerning sustainability in art and in the cultural realm, Austria’s Federal Ministry of Climate Action, Environment, Energy, Mobility, Innovation and Technology awarded us the Austrian Ecolabel in recognition of our efforts.

Detailed information on the Austrian Ecolabel can be found here: Austrian Ecolabel Guidelines

Sustainability on Many Levels

As a cultural institution, the ALBERTINA Museum places great importance on thinking about sustainability as a holistic concept. In this light, how we relate to our fellow human beings plays a central role alongside our approach to dealing with the natural world. We consequently aim to provide our employees with an integrative working environment that nurtures personal strengths while eliminating social barriers. Thus far, the steps we’ve taken in this regard include:

Creating a women’s advancement plan
Obtaining the “equalitA” gender equality seal for the in-house promotion of women
Appointment of an equality and diversity officer
Issuance of income reports
Inclusion of internship openings in the museum’s planned internal jobs platform in the interest of supporting students’ development

The successive reduction of our energy consumption represents a further important aspect of our sustainability policy. Only by optimizing technical processes and both identifying and ameliorating sources of loss can long-term success in the efficient use of resources be achieved. To this end, the ALBERTINA Museum relies on a combination of innovative technologies and meticulous energy management. Our steps in this regard thus far include:

Modernization of climate control systems
A switch to 100% green power
Conduct of a sweeping, professionally implemented energy survey
Conversion of all lighting elements to energy-efficient LEDs
Expansion of metering infrastructure to improve consumption monitoring

Further points include promoting environmental consciousness among employees and visitors alike, the expansion of our waste and resource management, the reduction of packing material used in connection with articles for sale at the ALBERTINA Museum Shop and by our own vendors, and many other measures.

Claude Monet | The Water Lilly Pond, 1917–1919 | ALBERTINA Museum, Vienna – Batliner Collection

Albrecht Dürer: The Great Piece of Turf, 1503, The ALBERTINA Museum, Wien

A Path We Travel Together

In the interest of reaching our goals, we’re also looking to receive your input. If you’d like to say something to us about sustainability at the ALBERTINA Museum, please do so via the following channels:

ALBERTINA Feedback Sheet

Other ways in which you can support our efforts:

Use environmentally friendly ways to get here like the local public transportation network (Wiener Linien) or one of Vienna’s numerous well-maintained bike routes (Bike Citizens – Bike Route Planner).
Place trash in the appropriate waste receptacles that we provide at the museum.
Consider staying at an environmentally certified hotel while you’re here.
Purchase your ticket online to help save paper.

We thank you for your commitment and look forward to your visit!