Wiener Ziegelmuseum

The Wiener Ziegelmuseum stands in Penzing, the fourteenth district of Vienna. It occupies the former municipal offices of the former suburb of Penzing, a building from 1873. The museum shares its home with the larger Bezirksmuseum Penzing, which opened in 1963 after being founded by Anton Scheiblin the year before. The Ziegelmuseum itself began in 1982 from the collection of Anton Schirmböck and became independent in 1986. Today it is run by Dolores Weber, who took charge in 2023. The museum is worth visiting for its focus on bricks and architectural ceramics. Its displays draw on the 1978 donation that started the collection and grew into a permanent exhibition. The exhibits trace how bricks shaped the local landscape and buildings over centuries. Visitors can see how clay from the Vienna Woods and the river valley was turned into the materials that built the district. The collection also shows how brick production changed with the arrival of railways and new industries. Inside, the Ziegelmuseum occupies two floors with displays arranged in several rooms. Large panels explain the history of brickworks and kilns around Penzing. Photographs and tools show how bricks were once shaped by hand before machines took over. Visitors find examples of glazed tiles, drainage pipes and decorative bricks used in local villas and factories. The museum also keeps a small reference library and publishes regular sheets about its findings. Outside, the building itself recalls the days when it served as the town hall for Penzing before the city expanded.