Museen

Museums, collections, memorials: The history and origin of Austrian museums goes in various phases. The former imperial collections (Habsburg Fideicommissum) and the national museums, re-established in the 19^th century (e.g. Museum of Applied Art) and 20^th century (e.g. Technical Museum), are today all administered as Museums, Federal by the Federal Ministry for Education and Cultural Affairs, the Museum of Military History is administered by the Federal Ministry of Defence. The Museums, Provincial often developed as foundations of private societies). They mostly consist of numerous departments with collections of prehistoric, archaeological, historic, folkloric, art, and scientific collections. For many decades they carried out scientific work in disciplines which were not taught at universities (e.g. folklore and ethnology, numismatics, study of weaponry). Some old Austrian towns have important local museums (e.g. Graz, Villach, Wiener Neustadt, Horn, Krems, Linz, Wels, Steyr, Enns, Bad Ischl, Lienz); the Salzburg City Museum has been merged with the Provincial Museum Carolino Augusteum. Of special importance are the church museums, such as the abbey museums of Admont, Heiligenkreuz, Klosterneuburg, Kremsmünster, Melk, St. Florian, the cathedral and diocesan museums in Vienna, Salzburg, Klagenfurt and St. Pölten. - Of supraregional importance are specialized museums devoted to special fields of interest, e.g. Eggenburg (Krahuletz Museum), Hallstatt (prehistoric finds), Petronell (Carnuntum), which are subject to the administration of the provinces and municipalities. Local museums and sites of excavations are administered by the provincial governments and the provincial museums as well as by the Federal Office for the Preservation of Monuments (central administrative office and "Provincial Curator", "Landeskonservator"). - Among private museums, castle museums are particularly important: e.g. Forchtenstein (Esterházy), Rohrau (Harrach), Klam bei Grein (Clam) and Kreuzenstein. - Open air museums (Stübing, Styria; Kramsach, Tirol) are essential for the preservation of testimonies to rural culture and farming, while the "Wehrgraben" museum in Steyr, founded in 1987, or the museums in the Waldviertel region (Groß-Siegharts, etc.), which have been combined to form the "Forum lebendiger Textilgeschichte" (Forum of Living Textile History") bear testimony to the history of industrialisation.

Literature: M. David and E. Egg, Der österreichische Museen-Führer in Farbe, ⁴1985; Federal Ministry of Science and Research (ed.), Publikationsreihe Österr. Museen stellen sich vor, no. 1-25, 1973-1987.