"We've evacuated 50 percent of our total depots," the museum's director Klaus Albrecht Schroeder told a news conference.

"But we have to remove everything because the special cardboard containers where the paintings and drawings are held are damper than they should be."

While water had been found on the containers of around 120,000 pieces, "no picture has been damaged," Schroeder said.

The Albertina, which attracts around one million visitors each year, announced last week that it would evacuate its entire depot -- which houses priceless works by artists such as Duerer, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Schiele and Klimt -- to an unspecified site following flooding caused by heavy rain.

The underground depot, which is regarded as among the safest and most high-tech in the world, was opened in 2006.

Nevertheless, more than 2,000 litres of water had to be pumped out after several days of almost continuous rain in the Austrian capital last month.

The rainwater had pushed humidity levels in the storage rooms up to as much as 70 percent, said Elisabeth Thobois, head of the Albertina's restoration department.

By Wednesday morning, humidity had fallen again to 53-60 percent, she said.

"The worst thing that could happen is for micro-organisms to get onto the works of art," she said, explaining that the containers were opened regularly for inspection.

Director Schroeder said investigations were still underway to ascertain how the water got into the depot. He declined to say how much the evacuation operation would cost.

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