Bezirksmuseum Landstraße

The Bezirksmuseum Landstraße sits in a former boys’ primary school gymnasium in the Sechskrügelgasse, in Vienna’s third district. The building once housed a girls’ school where the museum first opened in 1949 under Hans Pemmer’s leadership. Around 5 000 visitors come each year to see displays that trace the district’s past. The museum’s roots go back to 1935, when a local history collection was proposed, and to 1937, when the Verein Bezirkskunde Landstraße was founded. After the Anschluss the association was forcibly dissolved in 1938, only to be refounded in 1949. The museum keeps extensive archives of documents and images, including Adolf Albin Blamauer’s watercolours and Franz Josef Göttlicher’s photographs from 1930 to 1970. Three permanent memorial rooms recall different figures tied to the district. One honours the Landstraßer Jews, another the composer Bruno Granichstaedten, and a third the poet Josef Weinheber, whose furniture is on display. A gallery of sports photographs features Ingrid Wendl, Eva Pawlik, Regine Heitzer, Josef Steinbach and others who competed for the district. Visitors find a quiet space where local history is presented through photographs, books and objects. The museum also publishes a quarterly newsletter to announce new exhibitions. Regular walks and books on Landstraße’s streets, cemeteries and past residents extend the story beyond the building’s walls.