Plans to transform the former imperial riding stables into a “Museumsquartier”, or museums quarter, caused a major controversy in the late 1990s. Conservative circles vehemently opposed the city’s intention of inserting modern architecture into the baroque ensemble. A major point of contention was the plan by architects Ortner + Ortner for a tower that would protrude from the site and serve as a visual symbol of MQ.

With some 60,000 square meters, MQ is one of the largest cultural quarters in the world.

Public criticism of the project continued right through to the opening of MQ in 2001, when tension peaked after it became known that Public Netbase, an award-winning public institute for new communication technologies, had been served an eviction notice by MQ’s management company.

Over the course of construction, many changes to the original design were made, as a concession both to MQ’s political opponents and the ever-mounting costs of reconstruction. One of the first features to be deleted from the blueprints was the signature tower, and with it the plans for the new media library that it was intended to house.

Comprises such as these quite possibly tempered the spirit of the place. But the bottom line is that MQ has proven an indispensable addition to Vienna’s cultural scene since its inception in 2001. In fact, MQ is probably Vienna’s most successful attempt to capitalize on its cultural heritage and to inspire a vision for a collective culture in the future.