In 1921, the geographer, Eugen Oberhummer, conducted an inventory of the collection and found eight globes of various sizes (both terrestrial and celestial), and two armillary spheres.

In 1956, the National Library opened the Globe Museum with a total of 63 exhibits.

The museum was originally housed in the Augustinian tract of the Hofburg in Josefsplatz, Vienna, as part of the National Library's map collection.

The oldest item in the collection is the terrestrial globe of Gemma Frisius (circa 1536).

[1] Further objects in the collection include armillary spheres, planetary globes, astronomical instruments, and instruments in which a globe represents a component, such as planet machines (orreries), tellurions and lunariums.