The Tower of Madmen in Vienna is one of the most terrifying and fascinating places in the world. And it is not just words. Anyone who has ever visited this dark place will never forget it. The fact is that the Tower of Madmen contains within its walls a museum of pathological anatomy.

In the building you can see different parts and organs of the human body. They were preserved in alcohol in special solutions and placed in different vessels. Almost all organs underwent gene mutation. The tower represents all human fears. For those who like a high dose of adrenaline in the blood, this is the most suitable place. You will be guaranteed a terrible experience.

The museum building is located in the tower. From a distance the room looks very intimidating. If you take a closer look at the ominous architectural appearance of the tower, you will feel like watching a horror film like “Silent Hill”. Moreover, it must be said that the creators of the game of the same name used the visual appearance of the tower in one of its levels.

There is a University campus in the capital of Austria. This is where this mysterious tower is located. It was built in the 18th century. Its first purpose was as an asylum for the insane. Upon careful examination of the building plan, its original purpose is clearly visible.

The premises have five floors and two courtyards inside. On all floors there are rooms of the same size for sick people. In addition to the rooms, each floor is equipped with a ring-shaped corridor. The madhouse in Vienna did not last long, namely from 1784 to 1786.

Museum of Human Vices

This terrible museum contains many organs of the human body preserved in alcohol. Of these, human skulls and genitals that have undergone mutation attract special attention from visitors. Of course, not everyone will be interested in viewing the exhibits of the Tower of Madmen. But, for lovers of everything extreme and creepy, this is the very place that should be visited in Austrian capital.

The Tower of Madmen also has an instructive effect on people who are promiscuous. And in our age of AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases, this is very important. The Vienna Pathology Museum is a real reminder to humanity of its vices. It is unique in its kind.

Riddles of the Tower of Madmen

Today it is almost impossible to prove this. The sculptural group represents the fight of Laocoon with snakes. In the Vatican, in the Pius Clement Museum, there is an exact analogue of this famous sculpture, but it is also a copy of a bronze statue made in the year 200 BC. The original sculpture of Laocoon has not survived.

Last time I wrote to you about the crazy construction at the Winchester house. this place is also crazy and terribly interesting)

A real monument to pathologies, deformities, gene mutations and harsh medieval medicine. The second name of the museum is the Tower of Fools.

Tower of Madmen, or Museum of Pathological Anatomy. Vein. Austria

In the 18th century, a madhouse was located in a tower on what is now Spitalgasse. Nowadays it is recommended to climb here either for extremely brave people or for complete cynics. An elegant mahogany gynecological chair, dried and preserved organs, dissected skulls and mummified heads of law-abiding citizens, exhibits dedicated to venereal diseases and cases of pathological enlargement of the genitals... And yet it’s a shame that the sculptural group of Laocoon with his sons, made of human and animal bones , died during the bombing. Wed 15.00-18.00, Thu 8.00-11.00, first Monday of the month 10.00-13.00 Entrance 2 euros

Meethos writes: Tower of Fools or there is no treatment here anymore. I must admit, all my life I have been interested in buildings that have a circle in their plan. Towers and lighthouses, of course, also count. But the squat structures make a greater impression. These are already something like walls, inside of which there is something dangerous that must be contained. This is how the Tower of Fools appeared, which is located on the university campus in Vienna. It was not me who noticed, but I share this idea that it seems that from the inside this building is bursting with something, something is tearing out. From 1784 to 1796 there was a hospital for the mentally ill here. We were unable to find out why the establishment was closed. Maybe the souls here were treated poorly. Five-story building. There are two courtyards, on each floor there is a circular corridor and trapezoidal chambers. Nowadays, the tower houses a pathological museum. Wax models of all sorts of diseases, ancient tools and equipment, an alchemist’s workshop and a fragment of a morgue, skeletons of tuberculosis patients, a room with mirrors, and another part where they are allowed only with a guided tour, and many more that were incomprehensible to me personally, because somewhere there were signs in English, but somewhere not.

Appearance and plan. Taken from scans of the booklet for the album Anna Varney La Chambre D"Echo.

The building plan is included by Anna Varney in the album logo. A famous photo shoot was also held. In which museum exhibits were used, which are probably not considered such. This is a gurney and an examination table. We didn't find the gurney. And the table is in the courtyard. Only this is the second courtyard, where mere mortals are not allowed.
The tower also inspired the creators of the game Silent Hill 4. Level Water Prison World.
And we were only allowed to photograph the courtyard.

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This round building, frightening by its name, houses the Museum of Pathological Anatomy. The building is also called the “Tower of Madmen.” Back in the 18th century, there was a hospital for people with clouded minds. The first exhibition halls began operating in 1936, and in 1976 the museum received national status. It should be noted that a visit to this museum can spoil your appetite for more than one day - a walk among preserved human organs and other exhibits on this topic is not for everyone.

Also in the museum’s exhibition there is a very unusual gynecologist’s chair, made of mahogany, various accessories and much more, which may arouse keen interest, except perhaps from a future physician.

Before the Second World War, the museum's collection was larger, but lost part during the bombing.

By the way, the Tower of Madmen ranks first in the TOP 5 scariest places to visit in the world.

Address: Uni Campus Hof 6, Spitalgasse 2, A-1090 Vienna

Telephone: (+43-1) 52177-606

Schedule: on Wednesday from 15-00 to 18-00, on Thursday - from 8-00 to 11-00, the first Monday of the month - from 10-00 to 13-00.

Website: http://www.narrenturm.at/

Ticket price: 2 euros.

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Pathologisch-anatomische Sammlung im Narrenturm (German: Pathologisch-anatomische Sammlung im Narrenturm)

The Fools' Tower, located on the site of the former Vienna General Hospital, was built in 1784 as the world's first psychiatric hospital. Today the tower houses a pathological anatomical museum, which in 2012 became part of the Vienna Natural History Museum (German: Naturhistorisches Museum).

The building was built in 1784 by the Austrian architect Joseph Gerl (German: Josef Gerl) by order of Kaiser Joseph II (German: Joseph II). It's about about a five-story circular building with 28 rooms on each floor, narrow windows and a middle section aligned in a north-south direction. In total, the building contained 139 single chambers. Each chamber was about 13 in size square meters and went out to the through central corridor. The middle section housed the guards.

Joseph II, during his trips to France, had the opportunity to study various institutions. Thanks to numerous scientific findings of the 20th and 21st centuries, the establishment of the Tower of Fools is seen as evidence of a new attitude towards mentally ill people, the beginning of the isolation of the mentally ill from society and their separation from the social category of "poor".

During the construction of the tower, the chambers did not have doors, and the building itself was not connected to the sewerage system. Soon after the building was put into operation, doors were installed in the chambers, and the tower gained access to the sewer system.

Ten years later, due to innovations in the treatment of mentally ill people, the tower was completely obsolete. However, it was occupied by patients until 1866. After 1866, the Tower of Fools was temporarily used as an archive room, its rooms also being used by nurses.

Already on the oldest model of the Tower of Fools there was a lightning rod. Kaiser Joseph II was familiar with the experiments of Prokop Divis to create a meteorological machine for lightning removal. There were also speculations about healing power flows of electricity. It remains controversial whether the lightning rod was used to treat the sick, or whether it served to divert lightning.

The Pathological Museum was founded in 1796 by Kaiser Franz II as a museum for the Institute of Pathology and Anatomy. The museum's collection has been housed in the Tower of Fools since 1971.

Address: Uni Campus, Spitalgasse 2, 1090 Vienna, Austria.

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Tower of Madmen in Vienna (Vienna, Austria) - exhibitions, opening hours, address, phone numbers, official website.

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“The faint of heart are asked not to look” - such a motto would be fitting for the Vienna Tower of Madmen (Narrenturm), within the walls of which one of the most controversial and terrifying museums in the world is located. Besides the fact that the building itself does not bring joy - as you can easily guess from the name, the tower once housed mental hospital for violent patients - in addition, there is a Museum of Pathological Anatomy, the main exhibits of which are ugly babies preserved in alcohol, dissected bodies, brains floating in formalin and other, to put it mildly, objects that do not evoke an aesthetic feeling.

Those who decide to try their luck in the Tower of Madmen are invited to see about 4 thousand very unusual and moderately disgusting exhibits (and in total the museum’s collection includes about 50 thousand “masterpieces”).

A little history

The psychiatric hospital, known as the "Tower of Madmen", was built in 1784 by order of Emperor Joseph II, and was the first institution of its kind in Europe. Building round shape consists of 28 halls and a central Great Hall, intended for the needs of the scientific fraternity, and the medical building itself - 139 carefully fortified single chambers. Each had a massive door, and inside the cells were equipped with iron chains to restrain particularly violent patients. However, the luminaries of Viennese psychiatry were in no hurry to adopt new European methods of treating their patients, and a little less than a century later, the Tower of Madmen lost its functions: an inn for nurses and a medical residence began to be located here.

The Museum of Pathological Anatomy was founded in 1796 by Emperor Francis II. For almost two centuries, it was replenished with interesting specimens, including such “masterpieces” as the head of the assassin of Empress Sissi preserved in alcohol and even a sculpture of Laocoon with his sons, made of human and animal bones, until the collection outgrew the building allocated to it. Two oddities met - and since 1971, the pathological collection has been located in the Tower of Madmen.

What to see

We consider it our duty to warn: visiting the Tower of Madmen and the Museum of Pathological Anatomy is strongly not recommended for persons with an unstable psyche - it must be said that mentally stable tourists should carefully weigh their strengths before this “cult trip”.

Those who decide to try their luck are invited to see about 4 thousand very unusual and moderately disgusting exhibits (and in total the museum’s collection numbers about 50 thousand “masterpieces”). Here are just a few of them: dissected skulls, human brains preserved in formaldehyde, infants preserved in alcohol, born with developmental disabilities, individual internal organs and body parts and an extensive collection of mutations. A separate part of the exhibition introduces in the most visual form the horrors of the results venereal diseases(an antique mahogany gynecological chair will remind you of the need for “vigilance”), another section of the museum is dedicated to the consequences of using chemical weapons in the First World War. Among other things, here you can walk through the chambers of the Tower of Madmen and vividly imagine the value of mental health, and also see the oldest mount in Vienna for electrical wires (for the purpose of lighting, don’t think about it).

Address and opening hours

Address: Spitalgasse 2, on the university campus. The nearest metro stations are Alser Strasse (line U6) and Schottentor.

Opening hours: Wednesday from 10:00 to 18:00 ( sightseeing tours start at 13:00 and 14:00), on Saturday - from 10:00 to 13:00 (excursions - at 10:00 and 11:00).

The cost of visiting is 4 EUR, under 19 years of age are free.

Prices on the page are as of September 2018.