Kinoptikum Gaspoltshofen

The kinOptikum in Gaspoltshofen is a cinema museum in Upper Austria. It occupies the building of a former village cinema revived by the local cultural group spielraum. The museum’s displays trace how moving pictures moved from peep-show machines to today’s digital screens. The exhibition is split into three main sections. The first shows how early inventors used the eye’s persistence of vision to create flicker-free motion. The second gallery presents cinema history through projectors, film reels and sound equipment from the silent era to Dolby Surround. A small digital cinema lets visitors pick a short film to watch. Across the lane stands the Scheinhaus with the photo show ‘Once Underground’. The museum also hosts temporary exhibitions such as ‘Coal and Light’, linking projectors’ carbon arcs to the region’s mining past. A side room honours the local racer Gerold Klinger, displaying his racing motorcycles alongside films of his 1950s triumphs.