Places of Interest in Vienna

International Esperanto Museum

Michaelerkuppel, Hofburg, A-1010 Wien, Tel: + 43 535 5145, Website: www.onb.ac.at, U-Bahn: Herrengasse
This museum is dedicated to the "world language" Esperanto which was created by a Pole, Ludvik Zamenhof in 1887 (as a way for people of different nationalities to communicate effectively). Although many are aware the language exists, it has never caught on in a big way, with the number of speakers worldwide today totalling no more than 40,000. The museum was created by the Austrian National Library in 1929 and displays various documents showing the history of the language and numerous books printed in Esperanto.

Also associated with the Esperanto Museum is a further presentation of other artificial (planned) and obscure languages. Languages covered here include Romance, Stark Deutsch (Strong German), Neuslawisch (New Slavic) and Klingon (er, we kid you not!).