The Great Museum takes a curious and humorous look behind the scenes of one of the largest museums in the world, the Kunsthistorisches Museum, or Museum of Art History, in Vienna. On the occasion of the renovation of one of its wings, the movie inspects this colossal art gallery and lets the audience take part in the daily lives of its employees, from the general director, curators, art historians and art handlers to the cleaning staff.

Picture gallery

A former student and lover of art history, Johannes Holzhausen almost became a restorer. His contacts from his former endeavors came in handy for this documentary: 90 minutes of precision, attention and embellishment in the service of works of art that are hundreds – sometimes thousands – of years old, reflecting the history, patronage and riches of Vienna. It is a voyage through exhibition rooms, meetings, restorations in progress, offering insight into how the future of art is decided. Like a little mouse scurrying throughout the museum, the camera captures the both the expertise and the humor of the people that make this enormous art gallery tick – as evidenced by a scene following a restorer on his way down the halls by scooter to retrieve a document many hundred meters away. The camera flows along within this sumptuous neoclassical building stuffed with art in a manner that seems almost choreographed.