The Theatermuseum is a federal museum of national theatre history. Since 1991 it is situated in the

Palais Lobkowitz Palais Lobkowitz, or Palais Dietrichstein-Lobkowitz, is a Baroque palace in Vienna, Austria. It was owned by the noble Lobkowitz family. Today, it houses the theatre museum, which is a part of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. History The palac ...

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

History

The museum has its origins in the theatre-related collections of the

Austrian National Library The Austrian National Library (german: Österreichische Nationalbibliothek) is the largest library in Austria, with more than 12 million items in its various collections. The library is located in the Neue Burg Wing of the Hofburg in center of V ...

, dating back to the late 17th century. In 1922 the theatrical collections were set up as a separate organisation, under the directorship of Joseph Gregor (1888-1960), who with his spectacular exhibition from the library holdings in the same year succeeded in attracting the gift of the enormous private collection of theatre items belonging to

Hugo Thimig Hugo August Thimig (16 June 1854 – 24 September 1944), although born in Germany, spent his working life in Austria as an actor, director, and director of the ''Burgtheater'' in Vienna. Biography Thimig was the founding father of one of Au ...

, director of the Burgtheater. In 1938, Stefan Zweig bequeathed his eminent collection of poets' and playwrights' autographs to the museum - before he had to flee the Nazis. The museum also holds one of the major bequests of Viennese Modernism: the bequest of writer

Hermann Bahr Hermann Anastas Bahr (; 19 July 1863 – 15 January 1934) was an Austrian writer, playwright, director, and critic. Biography Born and raised in Linz, Bahr studied in Vienna, Graz, Czernowitz and Berlin, devoting special attention to philosophy, ...

. The purpose of the theatre-related collections was not limited to printed and archival items but to concentrate on the entire diversity of theatrical objects. The idea of a theatre museum was put forward in the 1930s but could not be realized until 1975, when the Austrian Theatre Museum was finally founded initially in the premises of Hanuschhof next to the Wiener Oper. Its prime function was to arrange exhibitions of the existing material in the

. The premises became, however, very soon too small, and at length the Austrian Government acquired and renovated the

, opening as Österreichisches Theatermuseum on 26 October 1991. With the opening of the new museum the theater collections of the

were combined with the assets of the Theatermuseum and one of the largest and most important collections in the theatrical field was established, together with the appropriate facilities to present the portfolio in exquisite showrooms. In 2001 the Theatermuseum ceased to be part of the

and instead became part of the Kunsthistorisches Museum. As of September 1, 2014, the

Wiener Staatsoper The Vienna State Opera (, ) is an opera house and opera company based in Vienna, Austria. The 1,709-seat Renaissance Revival venue was the first major building on the Vienna Ring Road. It was built from 1861 to 1869 following plans by August Si ...

nmuseum, founded in 2005, was closed down and the assets were incorporated into the holdings of the Theatermuseum.

Building

The Theatermuseum houses a grand concert hall, the Eroica Hall, called after

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. Beethoven remains one of the most admired composers in the history of Western music; his works rank amongst the most performed of the classic ...

’s Third Symphony, dedicated to the composer's patron and owner of the palace, Franz Joseph Maximilian Prince Lobkowitz. Subsequently many of

’s compositions were performed at the

Collections

At the Theater Museum highlights of the magic of stage are caught forever. More than 1,000 stage models, 600 costumes and props from three centuries, more than 100,000 drawings and prints as well as more than 700,000 theater photos are among the holdings of the museum. A special room is devoted to the

Jugendstil ''Jugendstil'' ("Youth Style") was an artistic movement, particularly in the decorative arts, that was influential primarily in Germany and elsewhere in Europe to a lesser extent from about 1895 until about 1910. It was the German counterpart of ...

artist Richard Teschner (1879–1948), showing his elaborate stick puppets and his marvelous Figurenspiegel (concave mirror with light effects). In total the museum comprises more than 2,000,000 separate objects. The library contains about 100,000 books and periodicals, and unlike the rest of the collections is technically still the property of the National Library, on permanent loan to the Theatre Museum.

Exhibitions

2015: ''Der Meister Tön' und Weisen ... Heinz Zednik - 50 Jahre Staatsoper'' und ''ExistenzFest. Hermann Nitsch und das Theater''

Sources

Website des Museums

Website des Museums

Theatermuseum

Österreichisches Theatermuseum
{{authority control Museums in Vienna Theatre museums Kunsthistorisches Museum