Austrian Theatre Museum
An Unprecedented Treasure of Theater Knowledge and History
A fantastic treat for lovers of theater! The Austrian Theater Museum (Theatermuseum Wien) was originally housed near the Vienna State Opera and was founded in 1975. The primary task was to organize exhibitions using the materials from the Austrian National Library. As space became limited, the Republic of Austria bought the nearby Lobkowitz Palace, which opened in 1991 as the Austrian Theater Museum.
The Lobkowitz Palace was frequently visited by Beethoven, many of whose works were performed there. At the beginning of 2001, the Austrian Theater Museum became part of the scientific institution Kunsthistorisches Museum.
The theater collection is loaded with amazing literary and archival material, and represents the concept of theater in all its diversity. The museum contains over 1,000 stage models and 600 costumes and props from across three centuries.
There are also more than 100,000 drawings and graphics as well as more than 700,000 theater photos. One of the unique treasures of the house is the pole dolls of the Art Nouveau artist Richard Teschner, which includes his figurative mirror. In total, the museum's holdings have more than 2,000,000 individual objects! The subject-specific study library of the Theater Museum contains about 100,000 books, periodicals, stage manuscripts and theater tickets.
Austrian Theatre Museum
