Venus in her casket

The Venus of Willendorf in the box where it had found a home for the first 80 years after its discovery. This limestone figurine is 29 500 years old and a masterpiece of Paleolithic sculpture. It was discovered on August 7th, 1908, during excavation work carried out in Willendorf (World Heritage Region Wachau, Lower Austria) by the Imperial Natural History Museum Vienna and counts among the most famous archeological finds in the world. The shortened arms and legs, the semi-seated position and the faceless head are part of the message it communicated.