This paper analyzes the four projects proposed for the design competition for the building of the Wiener Hofmuseen. This museum was initially planned as an element of the large-scale urban project, Ringstrasse, and realized as one of the largest museum architectures in the 19th century in Germany and Austria. In the competition (1867), two different positions were presented; one gave priority to the usefulness of the architecture, while the other preceded the entire concept to the usefulness. The former stance, which lost the competition, tried to present a new image of the museum architecture in the relationship to city planning.