Eisenstadt: State Museum closes for large renovation until 2026!

Eisenstadt: State Museum closes for large renovation until 2026!

Eisenstadt, Österreich - On December 22, 2024, the Burgenland State Museum temporarily closed its doors in Eisenstadt to undergo a comprehensive renovation. After the Christmas holidays, around 75,000 objects of the collection, of which a fifth are exhibited in Eisenstadt, are packed and transported to a secret depot. However, special exhibits such as the Haydn organ and the Attila stone remain in the museum for the time being, since their transport was classified as too complex and dangerous, as Margit Fröhlich, the scientific direction of the museum, explained. The renovation work is necessary to modernize the outdated ventilation system and the technology after storm damage occurred in September 2024.

a historical heir

The State Museum, which has been discussing the history and development of Burgenland since its foundation in 1921, sees itself as a cultural institution for the region. It includes diverse areas of natural history to archeology to folklore. It is planned to modernize the exhibition after the renovation and to introduce interactive elements, which in particular should address children and young people. Fröhlich emphasized that the general redesign also aims at increased accessibility, while the recommended use of gas heating is also being put to the test. The approximately 20 employees of the museum will move to other offices in Eisenstadt during the renovation, but will actively participate in the planning of the reopening in autumn 2026, which is to finally include the 100th anniversary of the museum, so . Interestingly, the museum was originally launched by Sándor Wolf, a wine dealer and founding director. After the connection of Austria to the Third Reich, he had to leave the country, but his collection could be brought back partially after the war. Exhibitions of the museum show the identity and history of Burgenland and range from geology to contemporary importance that the state has for Austria, report .