Join us for a visit to one of the most interesting District Museums in Vienna. The Hietzing District Museum documents the district's character as a "villa district” second only to the Cottageviertel in the 18th and 19th districts.
The history of Hietzing, Vienna's 13th district goes back to the Paleolithic period with exhibits that are the oldest evidence of human life in Vienna. Just imagine, a 1969 excavation in Titlgasse uncovered fragments of mammoth bones or that the Romans ran a water pipe to Vindobona in the Wiental from Atzgersdorf via Lainz. The name Hietzing is derived from the first name Hiezo or Hezzo, a short form of Heinrich. The first documented mention dates back to 1130.
After the Battle of Lechfeld in 955, a Germanic colonization resulted in the establishment of villages that later bacame the district of Hietzing. An important milestone in the development of today's district is also documented in the "Godtinesfeld donation" from Henry II to the cathedral chapter of Bamberg from 5 July 1014 while the current Lainzer Tiergarten used to be a settlement of St. Nikolai, although abandoned after 1529.
One of the most interesting parts of the museum is how it shows the large number of famous local personalities. For example, the more than 125-year-old typewriter of Nobel Prize winner Berta von Suttner that actually another writer, J. Vinzenz used later until his death in 1963. Among the painters that have lived in Hietzing, the best known is probably the key figure of the Vienna School of Art, Gustav Klimt. Given the villa area and Sisi's summer house in the Bezirk, there are also numerous Hietzing related memorabilia from the Habsburgs in the museum.
There is a special collection by a certain Friedrich Julius Bieber. Son a bank clerk, he became a shoemaker and bookseller, but continued his autodidact education and after expeditions to Turkey and Aden, he was assigned to the Austrian trade mission in Abyssinia in 1904. His main collection is in the Vienna Ethnographic Museum but his study and many privately owned items are on show in the Hietzing district museum.
The beginning of what became the municipality of Schönbrunn was a small noble residence with a mill appearing in 1170 as "Chaternberch". The monastery of Klosterneuburg acquired the property in 1312 and built a manor house, the Katterburg. Emperor Maximilian II acquired the lot in 1569 and fenced in a hunting garden. The converted hunting lodge was destroyed in 1683, and a more representative new building appeared in 1696 and was enlarged by Maria Theresa in 1743. For Emperor Franz Josef Schönbrunn wasn't a summer residence but he lived there all year round, which influenced the population and settlement structure. Numerous famous architects built here and known personalities acquired a nest in Hietzing, too. For instance, Alban Berg and Elias Canetti were two famous residents. Canetti's student quarters at Hagenberggasse 47 are commemorated today by a memorial plaque. Do not forget to check the emperor's U-Bahn stop, either!
The museum is fully accessible from the square and with a lift inside. There is a female loo in the 1st floor and male in the second but these may be a bit too narrow for wheelchairs.
There is no museum shop nor café but you will find an ample selection around the Schönbrunn Palace and outside close to the Hietzing U-Bahn station.
Bezirksmuseum Hietzing
1130, Am Platz 2
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