Museum of Art Fakes

The Museum of Art Fakes (German: Fälschermuseum) is a privately run museum in Vienna, Austria, dedicated to the exhibition of faked and forged artworks. Opened in 2005 in the city's Landstraße district, it describes itself as "the world's only genuine art forgery museum." Founded by Diana Grober and Christian Rastner, the institution occupies a unique position in the museum landscape by celebrating rather than concealing the history of art forgery, offering visitors an educational perspective on the techniques, motivations, and dramatic life stories of history's most notorious forgers.

The museum was established in 2005 by Diana Grober and Christian Rastner, who were inspired to explore art fraud after an encounter with the famous German art forger Edgar Mrugalla. Mrugalla, who confessed in 1987 and provided police with a 167-page document detailing over 2,500 fakes he had created during his career, became the museum's first donor, contributing his own works to launch the collection. The founders developed the museum with a clear educational mission: to teach visitors about the different categories of fakes and copies, distinguishing between legitimate copies, identical forgeries that replicate existing works while falsely claiming original authorship, and standard forgeries created in the style of another artist. As the only museum of its kind in the German-speaking world, it has carved out a distinctive niche, addressing a subject that most traditional institutions prefer to ignore or bury.

The museum holds approximately 80 to 100 works, a relatively small number that reflects both the difficulty of acquiring high-quality forgeries and their surprisingly high cost in the contemporary market. The collection focuses on notorious forgers of the twentieth century, with works spanning multiple national traditions and forgery techniques. The founders emphasize that the museum's purpose is pedagogical: to demonstrate how forgers operated, what methods they employed, and how their deceptions were eventually uncovered. Exhibits are supplemented by a guidebook containing biographies and contextual information about the forgers, and the museum provides audio guides and reading areas to enhance the educational experience. The collection also addresses the broader phenomenon of art forgery as both a criminal activity and a challenge to established expertise, asking visitors to consider uncomfortable questions about authenticity, value, and the fallibility of connoisseurship.

The museum's most significant holdings include works by Han van Meegeren, the notorious Dutch forger of Vermeers whose fake Christ and the Adulteress was sold to Nazi leader Hermann Göring during World War II, leading to one of history's most famous forgery trials. Tom Keating, the British art restorer who claimed to have faked over 2,000 works by more than 100 different artists, is represented by pieces demonstrating his technique of layering glycerine beneath paint to create "time bombs" that would dissolve during cleaning. The collection also includes items by Konrad Kujau, creator of the fake Hitler Diaries, with a couple of pages from those infamous diaries displayed on the wall. Other represented forgers include David Stein, Elmyr de Hory, Eric Hebborn, and Lothar Malskat, who notoriously whitewashed over damaged medieval frescoes in Lübeck's Marienkirche and painted new ones, which were later commemorated on West German postage stamps. Edgar Mrugalla's Rembrandt etchings, created using coffee, tea, and sun-aging techniques, are also featured. The museum notably documents the phenomenon of "fakes of fakes," including instances where forgers have copied Kujau's own forgeries.

The museum is located at Löwengasse 28 in Vienna's Landstraße district, the third municipal district. The site is situated near the Hundertwasserhaus, one of Vienna's most distinctive architectural landmarks, and is described as being within the city center with easy accessibility. The building houses the museum's compact exhibition spaces, which visitors typically explore in approximately one hour. The surrounding area includes the Naschmarkt, Vienna's best-known food market, and is connected by short walks or direct public transport to the historic Innere Stadt, including St. Stephen's Cathedral and the Hofburg Palace complex.

The Museum of Art Fakes operates as a private institution, and visitors are advised to check the website before visiting to confirm opening hours and any booking requirements. Entry tickets cost approximately €9 as of early 2026. The museum is accessible to a range of audiences and is designed to be combined with other cultural attractions in central Vienna. Its location in the Landstraße district places it within walking distance or a short journey by public transport from major sites including the Belvedere Palace, known for its collection of works by Gustav Klimt, as well as the House of Music and Mozarthaus Vienna. The museum maintains an English-language website at www.faelschermuseum.com for current visiting information.