The Kunsthistorisches Museum numbers among the most important European museum buildings put up during the 19th century. The monumental structure, built at the behest of Emperor Franz Joseph I as part of his expansion of the city in 1858, was intended to both unite and appropriately represent the artistic treasures that had been collected by the Habsburgs over the centuries. Construction work lasted 20 years, from when ground was first broken in 1871 to the museum building’s completion in the year 1891.