Freilichtmuseen

Open-air Museums, premises on which historical evidence of the way of life and architecture, mainly from agricultural areas, has been collected and exhibited. The museums display original pieces (buildings, interiors, tools) which have been transported from their original locations. Predecessors of open-air museums were "ethnographical villages" at the World Fairs and national fairs at the turn of the century. The first open-air museum in Europe was built in 1891 by A. Hazelius in Skansen (Stockholm); it was not until after World War II, and after some failures, that the first open-air museums were established in Austria. In the Austrian open-air museum in Stübing near Graz (built in 1962) objects from all of Austria's cultivated areas are on display.

Other open-air museums in Austria: Carinthia: Maria Saal (1952, the first Austrian open-air museum situated on the Kreuzlbergl mountain in Klagenfurt, since 1959/1969 in Maria Saal); Burgenland: Bad Tatzmannsdorf, 1967; Upper Austria: Mondseer Rauchhaus, 1960, St. Florian-Samesleiten, 1978; Tirol: Kramsach, 1974; Salzburg: Großgmain, 1978; Lower Austria: Niedersulz, 1979.

Literature: V. H. Pöttler, Geschichte und Realisierung der Idee des Freilichtmuseums in Österreich, in: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Volkskunde 94/95, 1991.