A Modern Museum in the House of Strauss

On 25 October 2023, the 198th anniversary of the birth of Johann Strauss II,  the House of Strauss Museum was opened in the newly restored and renovated Casino Zögernitz at Döblinger Hauptstrasse 76 in the 19th district of Vienna. The property developer Hermann Rauter and his family have promoted this project with the aim of creating an exhibition covering some 2,000 square metres which will allow visitors of all ages to immerse themselves in the world of the Viennese Strauss dynasty – Johann Strauss I and II, Josef and Eduard Strauss, and experience their times and their music in new ways, both active and interactive.

Among the many guests and representatives of the media invited were Wolfgang Sobotka, the speaker of the Austrian Parliament, Norbert Kettner, the director of the Vienna Tourist Board, and Eduard Strauss, chairman of the Vienna Institute for Strauss Research, who represented the Strauss family.

The Vienna Institute for Strauss Research has been instrumental in the development of this project. The work has taken several years, and has been in the hands of Norbert Rubey, the Institute’s head of research and one of the world’s leading Strauss experts, who has ensured the accuracy and authenticity of the material presented in both texts and pictures. These have been drawn from a wide range of sources, including important libraries, museums and archives in Vienna, the rest of Europe and the USA, as well as from private collections in England and the extensive material collected by Helmut Reichenauer. Norbert Rubey’s texts have been provided with excellent English translations by Leigh Bailey. The multi-media presentation has been the work of Georg Brennwald and his team. An audio guide is also available, spoken in German and English by Thomas Strauss, the great-great-great-grandson of Johann Strauss I.

Daniel Resch, the chairman of the local council, expressed his enthusiasm for this large-scale project in the 19th district of Vienna, referring on several occasions to the ‘wow effect’ now that it has been completed.

The museum’s attractions include not only the traditional use of words and pictures to convey knowledge but also a range of multi-media shows and interactive stations that open up a new world of experience for visitors.

https://www.houseofstrauss.at/en

Pictures: c. Georg Brennwald

Vienna Institute for Strauss Research