When the museum was founded, the fundamental pillars of the industry included mining, metallurgy, mechanical engineering and electrical engineering. Large objects from the second half of the 19th century – such as steam engines, hammers and presses, turbines and generators as well as the display mine – still characterise the historical profile of the “Energy” collection. Current topics include renewable energy sources and environmental movements. The holdings of the “Natural Sciences” collection include a great number of objects from the domains of physics, medical technology and metrology. Training and laboratory equipment, precision instruments from the fields of metrology and medicine as well as the collections of the Electropathological Museum and the “noise museum” of the General Accident Insurance Institution (AUVA) underline both the diversity and the topicality of the collection.
