The Arsenal was the largest building project of the young Kaiser Franz Joseph I in his first years of reign, and served to consolidate his neoabsolutist position of power, as opposed to the revolutionary Vienna of 1848.

Hansen's plan provided for a 235-meter long building with protruding transverse sections and corner towers, and a tower-like central segment with a square shape, crowned with a dome, with a total height of 43 meters.

The dovetail crenellation is interrupted by turrets at the axes of the side wings and at the corners of the central part of the building, with terracotta trophy sculptures positioned inside their alcoves.

The Feldherrenhalle, for instance, exhibits 56 full-figure statues of "Austria's most famous warlords and field commanders worthy of eternal emulation", as they are described in the Imperial resolution of 28 February 1863.

An additional four statues of field commanders are exhibited in the mezzanine, thus bringing the total to the aforementioned 60, though contrary to the ones in the Feldherrenhalle, these stand in considerably more elevated positions in wall niches.

A particular highlight of the Ruhmeshalle are the frescos by Karl von Blaas, portraying the most important military events (victories) in Austrian history since the times of the Babenberg dynasty.

[4] When construction of the Museum of Fine Arts began in Vienna in 1871 (it was opened in 1891), many believed in the beginning of the 1880s that significant parts of the collections previously exhibited in the Hofwaffenmuseum could be moved there.

[6] The principle applied was: The collections were to be divided into war trophies and ″otherwise historically interesting objects of exclusively Austrian origin which are of significance for the proper acknowledgement of the past of the Imperial and Royal Army in all its factors″.

As a result of the work of the committee and the generous support of the Emperor, his family, the nobility, and the bourgeoisie, as well as the Imperial War Ministry, ″a plethora of treasures was gathered, which a contemporary individual can hardly imagine.″[7] Finally, on 25 May 1891, the new k.u.k.

The purpose was to go beyond the mere display of objects and to scientifically address the topic while thoroughly composing the halls as an artistic synthesis, matching the status of the institution as one of the world's most significant museums.

[12] Following two years of construction under director Christian Ortner, the hall group on World War I opened its doors to the public in a modernized and redesigned form on 28 June 2014, just in time for the 100th anniversary of the Assassination at Sarajevo.

A special exhibit is a hand-written letter of Wallenstein to his field Marshal Gottfried Heinrich zu Pappenheim of 15 November 1632, which he wrote on the evening before the battle of Lützen.

As a consequence of the Great Turkish War, which culminated in the victories of Peterwardein (1716) and Belgrade (1717) and ended with the Treaty of Passarowitz in 1718, the Habsburg monarchy achieved its greatest territorial expansion.

A highlight of the exhibition is the world's oldest remaining military aircraft, the French war balloon "L' Intrépide", captured by Austrian troops at the battle of Würzburg on 3 September 1796.

Uniforms, medals, and weapons, and also special individual items add to the overall picture, such as the coat of the Russian general Pavel Andreyevich Shuvalov, worn by Napoleon on his journey to exile on the island of Elba.

The Vienna Congress and the personality of Archduke Karl are documented in detail, and the so-called Info-Points – interactive touchscreen monitors which visitors can use - provide further information on the events of this period using contemporary graphics, maps, and biographical notes.

His victories against Sardinia-Piemont at Santa Lucia, Verona, Vicenza, and Custoza in 1848 and those in Mortara and Novara in 1849 consolidated the reign of young emperor Franz Joseph, at least temporarily.

The atrocity of the battle and the helplessness of the wounded soldiers prompted Henry Dunant to found the Red Cross, and led to the agreement of the Geneva Convention.

A separate room is dedicated to the fate of the emperor's brother Ferdinand Maximilian, who ascended to the throne of Mexico in 1864, only to be executed there at the order of Benito Juárez in 1867.

The collection on display features private items which were partly obtained from Miramare Castle, and which provide evidence of his unfortunate reign in Mexico (including his death mask).

This is where one of the highlights of the entire exhibition is on display, the Gräf & Stift automobile in which the Austrian heir to the throne, Archduke Ferdinand and his wife Sophie Chotek were murdered on 28 June 1914 in Sarajevo.

Equally visible are the traces on two other items accessible to visitors: the blood-stained uniform of the Archduke, and the chaise longue on which the heir to the throne subsequently died of his injuries.

military justice system, escape and displacement, deprivation and propaganda, injury and emergency medical services, religion, war captivity, disability and death.

[16] Centrepiece of the exhibition is an Austrian M 1916 38 cm siege-howitzer, which could fire shells weighing 750 kg over a distance of 15 km and shell-damaged cupolas from the Antwerp and Przemyśl Forts show the effect of bombardments by such heavy artillery.

A replicated emplacement system features a series of display cabinets showing the innovations in weapons technology and equipment as of 1916, including the first Austrian steel-helmet built on the basis of the German model.

It focuses mainly on the impact of the political events on society and the military, such as, for instance, the July Revolt of 1927 triggered by the Schattendorf judgement and the Austrian Civil War of February 1934.

The museum only recently obtained those two writings that sculptors Wilhelm Frass and Alfons Riedel had hidden in a shell underneath the monument of the dead soldier in the crypt of Vienna's Heldenplatz.

Another major topic is the Battle of Vienna in April 1945, featuring weapons and uniforms that were given to the troops in the final stage of the war, such as the Panzerschreck anti-tank rocket launcher and the Sturmgewehr 44 rifle.

In 2012, the permanent exhibition received an additional item, the heavy explosive carrier Borgward IV, which was discovered during demolition work on the former Vienna Südbahnhof and was transferred to the museum.

Several exhibits of Austrian origin, however, are also on display here, such as the prototype of the Saurer armoured personnel carrier and the Kürassier tank destroyer, shown here in the newer A1 version.