Bezirksmuseum Meidling - The Oldest District Museum in Vienna and Probably The Best

Join us for a visit to one of the best, largest and most interesting district museums in Vienna, the Meidling Museum. It was founded as early as in 1923 as the "Meidlinger Heimatmuseum" by a group of interested citizens under the leadership of school councillor Karl Hilscher.

The Meidling Museum sports a large number of fossils and small finds from prehistoric and Roman times, such as the Roman nymph stone, found in Meidling in 1853. The main part of the museum covers crafts, the world of work and everyday life, clubs and entertainment establishments - the Weigl, Tivoli and the Meidling Theater. The folk singer Carl Lorens and the piano humorist Hermann Leopoldi have their own exhibition areas.

In the middle of the main room stands an impressive 18th century fire engine from Altmannsdorf. Some other highlights include a picture panel commemorating the namesake of Längenfeldgasse, Baroness Josefine Haas von Laengenfeld-Pfalzheim, founder of several marriage foundations. A small collection of rare bricks is reminiscent of the Wilhelmsdorf brick ponds. You will also find Hans Bitterlich's submission model for the monument to Empress Elisabeth in the Volksgarten in one case and a place of a plague column from Arndtstrasse, a reminder of the dangerous diseases that plagued Meidling in another. In addition, the museum commemorates the horrors of WWII with a district plan with bomb hits marked on it hangs between them.

The school directors and their staff have always volunteered to support and promote the Meidling museum which also promotes local artists in a gallery attached to the museum. The museum has now a collection of valuable paintings, drawings and prints that local artists have donated.

The museum received the Austrian Museum Prize Recognition Award in 1999. It is nicely accessible with a lift from the entrance hall and good accessible loos. There is no museum shop nor café and you might wish to plan you after-museum bubbly before your visit as there may not be much in the immediate vicinity either.

Bezirksmuseum Meidling

Längenfeldgasse 13-15, 1120 Wien

http://www.bezirksmuseum.at