On June, the 18th 1998 the town-museum of Klosterneuburg was blessed and opened in the "Kulturzentrum
Steinhäusl" after a time of building of only 18th months.But the history of the museum as an institution stretches as far back as the turn from the 19th to the 20th century, when first efforts to establish a town-museum were made. Nevertheless it took till 1931 that the original collection was presented in the rooms of the savings bank of Klosterneuburg on Oberbaurat Hans Huber’s initiative. 1940 the rooms in Leopoldstraße 3, which house the archive of the town today, were fixed up as museum. As a result of the incorporation to Vienna in October 1938, the museum was closed in 1942 and the objects were brought to the city-museum of Vienna. After the ending of World War II it still took a very long time, till all objects of the collection – also of the museum of wine-growing – were given back either to the museum or the archive of Klosterneuburg. But at last, on November, the 3rd 1974 the museum could be opened in the Rostockvilla after many years of hard and honorary work of Dr. Max Wellner and his wife Dir. Elisabeth Wellner. When Dir. Elisabeth Wellner unexpectedly died in 1990, the museum was closed again. During the following years the Rostockvilla was used as warehouse, because the stock had greatly increased in the course of the years. |
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In October 1992, the district council decided to buy a property at Kardinal-Piffl-Platz 8 from the province of
Lower-Austria. It was planned to build a new archive. The rooms in the first floor were meant for the music-school.The department of protection of historical monuments carried out preventive archaeological excavations. Head of the archaeologists was Univ.-Prof. Dr. Johannes W. Neugebauer. There was found an unknown part of the Roman village with foundation walls of houses as well as some cellars, well-shafts and kitchenware of bronze and clay. However, the highlight of the excavation was the discovery of a medieval building with a wine-cellar, which had belonged to the monastery of Passau. In the former chapel of the building, 1238 figural decorated tiles were found. Because of its number and the good condition the find was celebrated as a European sensation. So the district council decided, not to erect a new town-museum instead of an archive. The medieval wine-cellar and 225 of the tiles were integrated in the building and were in the centre of attention of the first exhibition of the museums: "About the court of Passau – From the Roman Village to the medieval building with the wine-cellar." 2003 the exposition "Excavations at the centre of Klosterneuburg – Research and results from 1999 to 2002" took the place of the opening exposition. From 2008 on a comprehensive exposition about the history of Klosterneuburg will be shown. In addition to the current permanent exhibition, alternating exhibitions about art, history or folklore as well as exhibitions of contemporary artists of Klosterneuburg are presented. Pictures: (The upper one) The town-museum in the house Leopoldstraße 3, 1941 (photo: AStKl) (The lower one) Opening of the town-museum in the Rostockvilla on November the 3rd 1974, with Dir. Elisabeth Wellner (in front on the right), Dr. Hermine Bauer und Edith Specht (on the left behind E. Wellner) (photo: H. Zwazl) |
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The whole stock of the town-museum includes objects concerning the history of Klosterneuburg and its surrounding (the oldest finds are from Roman times), a permanently increasing art-collection with the main emphasis on folkloric objects. |
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