WestLicht Center for Photography Tours and Activities

Vienna’s first museum dedicated purely to photography opened in 2011 in a former glass factory and the following year combined its collection with the OstLicht Gallery in Absberggasse, which curates special exhibitions of hard-hitting, edgy contemporary photography.

WestLicht Center for Photography has Vienna’s biggest collection of historic cameras, ranging from daguerreotypes produced in the 1840s – the world’s first commercial camera – to KGB spy cameras and a Hasselblad that went into space with the Apollo missions. As well as temporary exhibitions throughout the year – past shows have featured landscapist Ansel Adams and Henri Cartier-Bresson – the museum also participates in the annual World Press Photo, which celebrates award-winning photo-journalism.

Along with a stylish café and bar, the WestLicht also has an arty shop selling images shot by contemporary photographers such as Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams and German film-maker Wim Wenders.