Landesmuseen

In addition to the three main venues in Linz – Schlossmuseum, Landesgalerie, Biologiezentrum –, Upper Austria operates a wide range of specialist museums. In all, the province’s museums are home to some eighteen million exhibits and attract close to 200,000 visitors a year on average.

Schlossmuseum Linz:

Schlossmuseum Linz is Austria’s largest single-venue universal museum. Its collections take up more than 18,500 m² of floor space and illustrate Upper Austria’s natural and cultural history from the first stirrings of life approximately 250 million years ago to the first human settlements and right up to the 20th century. Focusing on topical international and/or regional themes, four temporary exhibitions a year enter into a dialogue with the exhibits permanently on show.

The Landesgalerie:

The Landesgalerie Linz is the province of Upper Austria’s museum of modern and contemporary art. It enables its visitors to stay in touch with the latest trends in art by putting the latter into the context of 20th-century art history. Concepts for the comparative presentation of regional, national and international art are being established on a long-term basis.

Special attention is paid at the Landesgalerie Linz to photography and it takes pride of place among Austria’s photographic collections by being a member of the largest international network. Its innovative models of museum activities make themselves felt both in the collection and the venue.

The Biologiezentrum:

The Biologiezentrum collects, conserves, researches, documents and makes available insights into the animal, plant and mineral world. It houses zoological, botanical and geosciences collections; an archive; a natural history library, an eco park that functions both as a collection of live specimens and as a mediation venue; and a DNA lab to facilitate research into systematic and phylogenetic issues.

Additional Venues:

Anton Bruckner Memorial Centre Ansfelden; Open-Air Museum Sumerauerhof St. Florian; Kubinhaus Wernstein; Mühlviertler Schlossmuseum Freistadt; Photo Museum Bad Ischl; Naval Museum Grein; Stelzhamer Memorial Centre Pramet; the Collection of Arms and Armory at Schloss Ebelsberg; the Customs and Financial History Collection Linz; Depot Leonding.

Cultural Mediation:

What is common to all venues is the high priority accorded to cultural mediation. Close to 2,500 mediation programmes a year cater for almost 43,000 visitors, the bulk representing activities involving children and teenagers. Guided tours, work sheets, workshops and natural history and art labs are designed to make museum visits an interesting and enjoyable experience for young visitors. Rooms especially designed for children are linked thematically to current exhibitions. It is even possible to devise special programmes for children to celebrate their birthday at the museum. There are museum-education inspired programmes for school and preschool children and for children in after-school care as well as for entire families; there are programmes for children and adolescents lasting several days during school holidays. Another regular feature are competitions designed to foster creativity. An important project this year is the installation of mediation facilities for children and families as an integral part of the presentation of the collections at the Schlossmuseum. An exhibition room specifically designed for children and families is to be realized within the new few years.

PDF presentation of the State Museums of Upper Austria

Website: www.landesmuseum.at

Contact Persons:

Mr Peter Assmann

Ms Sandra Kotschwar