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The Universalmuseum Joanneum, formerly Landesmuseum Joanneum, is a museum with 12 locations in Graz and in Styria. It was named after Archduke Johann, the founder of the museum. It is the oldest and after the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna also the second largest museum in Austria. More than 4.5 million collection objects form the basis of a multifaceted exhibition and event program that conveys a broad spectrum of culture and science. The following museums belong to the Universalmuseum Joanneum: In Graz: Kunsthaus Graz, Landeszeughaus, Museum im Palais, Folklore Museum, Eggenberg Castle (State Rooms & Park, Old Gallery, Coin Cabinet, Museum of Archeology), Joanneum Quarter (New Gallery Graz with BRUSEUM, Multimedia Collections, Natural History Museum) Styria: Austrian Sculpture Park, Trautenfels Castle, Roman Museum Flavia Solva, Stainz Castle (Hunting Museum and Agricultural Museum), Rosegger Birthplace Alpl, Rosegger-Museum Krieglach.
The Joanneum was founded by Archduke Johann in 1811, originally it
was both a museum and a teaching institution. Several famous scientists
taught and researched around the Archduke's extensive natural science
collections: Friedrich Mohs developed the hardness scale for minerals
named after him at the Joanneum, and the father of paleobotany, Franz
Unger, also passed on his knowledge to students here. The writer and
historian Johann Ritter von Kalchberg was also involved in setting up
the facility when it was founded. In 1864, the Joanneum was given the
rank of "k.k. Technical University”, which later became the Technical
University of Graz. The spatial and organizational separation of the
university from the overall institution was followed in 1887 by the
decision to combine the Joanneum collections in a state museum.
In the years that followed, the Joanne collections were reorganized in
the Lesliehof in Graz's Raubergasse, the so-called Old Joanneum. Shortly
after the reinstallation, however, there was again a lack of space and
between 1890 and 1895 a new museum building was erected in Neutorgasse –
in the immediate vicinity of the Lesliehof – which was designed by
August Gunold in the Viennese Neo-Baroque style. This representative
building, the New Joanneum, was home to the "Museum of Cultural History
and Applied Arts", which also included the collection of medieval art.
The State Picture Gallery also moved to this new address.
In
1941, the Landesbildergalerie was finally divided into a department for
art up to around 1800 ("Alte Galerie") and another for more recent art
("Neue Galerie").
The two opposite buildings of the old and new
Joanneum were extensively renovated from 2010 to 2013 and connected
underground to the Joanneum Quarter. On the occasion of the 200th
anniversary of the founding of the Joanneum, the Neue Galerie Graz and
the multimedia collections were located here in 2011. With the opening
of the newly designed natural history museum on March 15, 2013, this
project, which was supported by the Styrian provincial government with a
substantial special budget, was completed for the time being.
Developments in the 21st century
The 21st century began for the
Joanneum with the spin-off of the museum from the state administration:
In order to remain competitive in the international museum business, the
non-profit Landesmuseum Joanneum GmbH was founded in 2003. The universal
museum Joanneum has reached its current form through the constant
incorporation and spin-off of individual museums, making it the largest
universal museum of its kind in Central Europe:
• In 2003 Graz
was “European Capital of Culture” and in this context the Kunsthaus Graz
was opened as part of the Joanneum. The Folklore Museum was reorganized
in 2003 and the Künstlerhaus Graz was taken over.
• In 2004, the
provincial Roman collection was reorganized with the opening of the
lapidarium in the park of Schloss Eggenberg and the Flavia Solva museum
pavilion. The planetary garden in Eggenberger Schlosspark was also
opened in 2004.
• In 2005 the old gallery moved to Schloss
Eggenberg and was repositioned there, and the manorial gartel in the
castle park was renovated. The Joanneum Museum Academy was founded in
the same year and has been headed by Bettina Habsburg-Lothringen since
2014.
• In 2006 the Stainz Castle Hunting Museum was opened and
the temporary exhibition rooms in Eggenberg Castle were completed.
• In 2007 the operation of the Austrian Sculpture Park was taken
over. The coin cabinet was opened in Schloss Eggenberg with a
reorganization of the coin collection.
• In 2008 the display
collection in the folklore museum was given a new design.
• In
2009, with the opening of the new archeology museum in the park of
Schloss Eggenberg, the archaeological collections were reorganized, as
was the agricultural museum at Schloss Stainz. The Study and Collection
Center (SSZ) was put into operation in Graz-Andritz in 2009.
• In
2010 the ground-breaking ceremony for the Joanneum Quarter took place.
• In 2011, on the occasion of the 200th anniversary of the Joanneum,
the Joanneum district with the Neue Galerie Graz, the BRUSEUM and the
multimedia collections was opened. In the Palais Herberstein, the old
location of the Neue Galerie, the cultural history collection was
reorganized in the "Museum im Palais".
• In 2012 the Flavia Solva
Roman Museum underwent a relaunch. The Künstlerhaus Graz, which opened
in 1952, was spun off from the responsibility of the Joanneum in 2012
and has been operated by the Kunstverein Medienturm as a hall for art
and media since 2013.
• In 2013, the reorganization of the natural history collections in
the Natural History Museum in the Joanneum Quarter was presented. The
cannon hall in the state arsenal was also given a new look. The Rosegger
Museum in Krieglach and the Rosegger birthplace in Alpl became part of
the Universalmuseum Joanneum in 2013.
• In 2017, the Museum of
History in the Palais Herberstein was opened as a joint house for the
Cultural History Collection and the Multimedia Collections. The Flavia
Solva archaeological site also got a relaunch.
• In 2019, the
Austrian Open-Air Museum in Stübing came under the umbrella of the
Universalmuseum Joanneum, the CoSA - Center of Science Activities was
opened in the Joanneum district in cooperation with the Graz children's
museum FRida & freD and the Renaissance and Baroque collection in the
Old Gallery was exhibited under the title " Between dance and death.
Episodes of the Early Modern Era” reorganized.
• In 2020 the
Kunsthaus Graz was spun off from the Universalmuseum Joanneum GmbH.
organization and staff
The Universalmuseum Joanneum employs
around 500 people and enjoys international recognition. More than 4.9
million items from the collection form the basis for the exhibition and
event program, which conveys a broad spectrum of history, art, culture
and science. This tradition-steeped institution is thus following its
founding mission of collecting, preserving, researching and
communicating.
Run for a long time as an office of the Styrian
provincial administration, the Joanneum was converted into a non-profit
limited company in 2003, headed by two managing directors: Peter Pakesch
as artistic director and Wolfgang Muchitsch as scientific director. With
this step, the Landesmuseum Joanneum GmbH gained more responsibility and
autonomy in terms of personnel and budgets. However, following Archduke
Johann's foundation, the province of Styria remains the owner of the
properties and holder of the property rights to the museum. In September
2009 the name was changed to Universalmuseum Joanneum. From October 15,
2015 to December 31, 2017, Wolfgang Muchitsch was the sole managing
director of the GmbH. On January 1, 2018, Alexia Getzinger was appointed
commercial director.
Directors:
1977-1994: Dr. Friedrich
Waidacher
1995-1999 Dr. Barbara Kaiser (Director)
2000 dr Odo
Burböck (Managing Director)
2001-2002 PhD Odo Burbock (Director)
2003-2015 Peter Pakesch (Artistic Director) and HR Dr. Wolfgang
Muchitsch (Director)
2015-2017 HR Dr. Wolfgang Muchitsch (Director)
Since 2018 HR Dr. Wolfgang Muchitsch (scientific director), Alexia
Getzinger, MAS (commercial director)
The collections and exhibits are housed and presented in buildings,
most of which are testimonies to historical architecture: castles, noble
palaces, former monasteries and the Landesarmory in Graz, which is
unique in the world as the largest preserved historical armory. But
striking examples of modern architecture can also be found in the
association of the Universalmuseum Joanneum, e.g. B. the Kunsthaus Graz
(2003), the Römermuseum Flavia Solva (2004) and the new archeology
museum in the park of Schloss Eggenberg (2009). In 2006, the Madrid
architects' office Nieto Sobejano Arquitectos, together with the Graz
office eep architekten, won the tender for the new visitor center that
will be built underground in the courtyard of the Neutorgasse and
Raubergasse buildings; the opening took place in 2011.
Locations
in Graz
State Armory
The unique Landesarsenal in Graz is considered to be
the largest preserved historical armory in the world. Commissioned by
the Styrian estates, Antonio Solar built the “landscape arsenal” between
1642 and 1644. Up until the 18th century, it was the most important
weapons depot in the south-east of the Habsburg Empire. When Maria
Theresa centralized the army, the armory was closed, but remained as a
"monument to the history of the country". The Landesarsenal has been
part of the Joanneum since 1892 and conveys the atmosphere of an
original armory from the 17th century. 32,000 exhibits have been
preserved, including armour, mail, helmets, weapons and other war
implements.
Joanneum district
New Gallery Graz
The Neue
Galerie Graz was created in 1941 by dividing the Joanneum's
Landesbildergalerie, founded in 1811, into an old and a new gallery,
with the latter taking over the holdings from the 19th and 20th
centuries as the new museum department. The collection includes
important holdings of fine art from the 19th and 20th centuries as well
as the present. The Neue Galerie also has a graphic collection with
around 40,000 works, a photo collection and a film and video collection.
Regular special exhibitions show international and Austrian contemporary
art as well as works from the 19th and 20th centuries. Since 2011, the
Neue Galerie has been located in the premises of the New Joanneum in the
redesigned Joanneum Quarter. In addition to a permanent exhibition,
special exhibitions and the so-called Bruseum with works by Günter Brus
can be visited. In 2017 the studio series of the Neue Galerie Graz,
which had been built up from the 1990s to 2010, was resumed. The studio
serves as a platform for young artists who are not yet fully established
in the art world or who are at the beginning of their careers, as well
as an instrument for the promotion and documentation of young art.
Natural History Museum
In 2013, the redesigned Natural History
Museum (Graz) was opened in the Joanneum Quarter on the premises of the
Old Joanneum. In a modern presentation, the permanent exhibition conveys
selected topics relating to the diversity of animate and inanimate
nature. On display are objects from all of the natural science
collections of the Universalmuseum Joanneum (botany, geology,
palaeontology, mineralogy, zoology). Special exhibitions enable in-depth
examination of changing themes.
Center of Science Activities
(CoSA)
The Center of Science Activities (CoSA) is a science center in
the Natural History Museum, in which technology and natural sciences are
conveyed in a low-threshold manner. It was opened in 2019 after a
four-year planning phase as a joint project of the Graz children's
museum FRida & freD and the Universalmuseum Joanneum. A special feature
of the CoSA is the combination of storytelling, augmented reality and
gamification for knowledge transfer in the museum sector.
Kunsthaus Graz
The Kunsthaus Graz, an exhibition house that combines
international contemporary art with regional and local themes and tasks.
It shows exhibitions on current social issues, initiates the
creation of new works of art and implements a wide range of educational
projects. In addition, it promotes engagement with art, design,
architecture and exhibiting itself. In order to realize its visions, the
Kunsthaus Graz works together with a network of partner institutions -
worldwide and locally. The Kunsthaus Graz opened its doors in 2003 as
the architectural conclusion of the "European Capital of Culture year".
In the meantime, the "Friendly Alien" with its biomorphic architecture
by Peter Cook and Colin Fournier is not only a magnet for people
interested in art and culture from all over the world, but also an
essential part of the urban identity of the city of Graz.
As an
exhibition center for contemporary art, it has been showing Austrian and
international art since 1960. The BIX media façade of the Kunsthaus
Graz, designed by the Berlin designers "realities:united", represents a
unique fusion of architecture and media technology. Like an urban
screen, it serves as an instrument for artistic communication.
In
2019, the Kunsthaus Graz was spun off from the Universalmuseum Joanneum
GmbH and has since been managed by the Kunsthaus Graz GmbH. This is
owned equally by the city of Graz and Universalmuseum Joanneum GmbH, a
company owned by the province of Styria.
The History Museum invites you to explore the development and
transformation of Styria from the Middle Ages to the present day. The
basis of the exhibitions in the Museum of History are two collections of
the Universalmuseum Joanneum: The cultural-historical collection is
dedicated to the cultural epochs of Styria and the arts and crafts
production in this state. The multimedia collections document regional
history in photos, film and sound. The architecture of this museum
location is also historically valuable: the Palais Herberstein on
Sackstraße is one of the most important architectural monuments in
Graz's old town. The impressive staircase opens up to a ceiling fresco
attributed to the Styrian painter Philipp Carl Laubmann (1709–1792).
Since April 2017, two light works by the artist Brigitte Kowanz have
been on display there and in the north entrance of the palace.
Eggenberg Castle
Eggenberg Castle, the most important castle complex
in Styria, is surrounded by a spacious landscaped garden. Modeled on the
Spanish Escorial, it is both an impressive representative building and a
complex allegory of the universe. The center of the multi-layered
intellectual structure is a valuable ensemble of historic interiors. The
cycle of 24 state rooms with original furnishings from the 17th and 18th
centuries is one of the most important ensembles of historic interiors
in Austria. The highlight of this series of rooms is the planetary hall,
completed in 1685, which owes its name to the cycle of paintings by the
court painter Hans Adam Weissenkircher. With its multi-layered pictorial
program, which merges astrological and hermetic ideas, number symbolism
and family mythology into a complex allegory to the glory of the
Eggenberg family, it is one of the most impressive interior works of
early Baroque art in Central Europe. In August 2010, the UNESCO World
Heritage Committee expanded the existing World Heritage site “Graz –
Historical Center” to include Eggenberg Castle.
Old gallery
The Alte Galerie collection contains masterpieces of European art from
the Middle Ages to the end of the 18th century.[4] The permanent
exhibition in Schloss Eggenberg is set up according to an innovative
concept: no longer arranged chronologically, but by subject, exhibits
e.g. B. by Lucas Cranach d. Ä., Pieter Brueghel the Younger or Martin
Johann Schmidt as well as outstanding medieval works such as the
Admonter Madonna to stroll between the ages. Thematically changing
special exhibitions complement the multifaceted range of images in the
permanent exhibition. The holdings of the Kupferstichkabinett of the
Alte Galerie can be viewed by prior arrangement and contain hand
drawings and prints from 1500 to the end of the 18th century. Among them
are u. a. Works by Rembrandt, Albrecht Dürer and Giambattista Piranesi.
In 2019, the Renaissance and Baroque collection of the Old Gallery was
reorganized.
Coin cabinet
This also goes back to Archduke
Johann's private collection and, with more than 70,000 objects, is the
second largest public coin collection in Austria.[5] The most important
items in the collection are Roman coins found in Styria, Friesacher and
Grazer pfennigs from the Middle Ages, as well as coins and medals from
the inner-Austrian mints of Graz, Klagenfurt and St. Veit and from other
countries of the Danube monarchy. The permanent exhibition of the coin
cabinet is located in the oldest part of Schloss Eggenberg.
Archeology Museum
The archeology museum shows more than 1,200 objects
from the past living environments related to timeless themes of human
existence. The second largest archaeological collection in Austria
combines evidence of human existence from the "Styrian" primeval times
with finds from classical antiquity, the ancient Near East and Egypt.
One of the world's unique attractions is the Strettweg cult wagon, a
burial object from the Hallstatt period, which can be admired in the
Archeology Museum, which opened in 2009. Also on display is the
so-called silver cup from Grünau, one of the most valuable Roman finds
from what is now Styria. One of the most important collections of Roman
stones in the Eastern Alps can be seen in the adjoining lapidarium: 96
stones – tombstones, memorials, medallions and round sculptures –, three
floor mosaics and, as an outstanding exhibit, the almost three meter
high tomb stele of L. Cantius are on display.
Folklore museum
The folklore museum houses the oldest and most extensive folklore collection in Styria. Founded in 1913 under the direction of Viktor von Gerambs as a department of the Joanneum, the folklore museum has a unique collection. More than 40,000 objects document the material and spiritual folk culture of Styria. The museum is housed in a former Capuchin monastery from the early 17th century. It also includes a new building from the 1930s and the St. Antonius Church with paintings by Pietro de Pomis and Hans Adam Weißenkircher. The original focus of the folklore museum was on the rural life of the pre-industrial era. In 2021 the museum was fundamentally repositioned. The new permanent exhibition takes a look at social issues, issues and cultural phenomena of the present. The focus is on people in and from Styria and the question of how they shape their living environments in times of change and social change.
Natural History Study Center
The natural science collections of
the Universalmuseum Joanneum (botany, geology & paleontology,
mineralogy, zoology) have been housed in the Natural History Study
Center since autumn 2009, where collection maintenance and research are
carried out at a contemporary level. While the study center for natural
history not only provides scientific work, but also provides technical
information and holds lectures and seminars, the exhibition activities
of the collections take place in the natural history museum, which is
part of the Joanneum Quarter.
botany and mycology
The core of
this collection, the herbarium, consists of more than half a million
different preserved plants (ferns, flowering plants, fungi and mosses).
Special collections with fruits, seeds and fruit models as well as an
extensive xylotheque (wooden library) supplement the herbarium, which
not only represents a comprehensive archive of Styrian flora, but also
forms the basis for research work on native vegetation.
geology
and paleontology
The geological-palaeontological collection includes
objects from 500 million years of Styrian geological history. In
addition to the primeval elephant, the cave bear and the giant deer,
corals, shells and fish are among the core pieces of the collection.
Since 1998, the Geology & Paleontology Collection has also organized
fossil excavations with schools.
mineralogy
The mineralogical
collection came from Archduke Johann's private collection, which
comprised several thousand pieces. Today, the collection has grown to
around 80,000 objects and presents minerals from all over the world as
well as a Styrian regional collection. The mineralogy at the
Landesmuseum Joanneum was also the workplace of Friedrich Mohs, who
invented his hardness scale here, which is still relevant today. He was
the first curator of the Joanneum.
zoology
This collection
includes about 850,000 objects. The typical species are presented in
their habitats, with the vertebrates receiving the largest display area.
Representatives of other regions - from the sea coast to the original
wildlife of Australia - round off the collection holdings. In the case
of invertebrates, insects and molluscs are the main focus, while in the
case of vertebrates, their skeletons and bird eggs attract attention in
the scientific collections.
Multimedia Collections
The
multimedia collections (until 2009: image and sound archive) were
founded in 1960 not only to collect photo, film and sound material
relevant to Styria, but also to record it, process it for scientific and
educational purposes and make it accessible to the public close. The
collection now consists of more than 2.5 million photos, tens of
thousands of sound carriers and thousands of films and documents the
development of the federal state, starting with the beginnings of
photography. The administration of the multimedia collections has been
housed in the Joanneum Quarter since 2011, and exhibitions can be viewed
in the History Museum.
With the Ploner Collection, the Neue Galerie Graz was given an
important selection of 47 works of Austrian and international painting
and graphics after 1945 from the possessions of the Viennese
entrepreneur and art collector Heinz Ploner through his widow Regina
Ploner. The Ploner donation also includes works by artists such as
Brigitte Kowanz, Erwin Wurm and a larger block of works by Henri
Michaux. These artists were also given exhibitions and their works were
purchased for the collection of the Neue Galerie Graz. Thanks to the
Ploner donation, important works could now also be added to these
holdings.
Another focus was initiated by the donation of Petra
and Ralph Schilcher, whose collection of "serial art" with a scope of
more than 1,000 works, which were created during their thirty years of
production and publishing activities at Edition Artelier, was
transferred to the inventory of the Neue Galerie Graz . Edition
Artelier, founded by Petra and Ralph Schilcher in 1985, ended the
production and publishing of editions after 30 years. From the beginning
of 2016, the collection was transferred to the inventory of the Neue
Galerie Graz at the Universalmuseum Joanneum as a closed collection
complex. The collection includes names of great artists such as John
Baldessari, Martin Kippenberger, Peter Kogler, Jörg Schlick, Michael
Schuster, Erwin Wurm and Heimo Zobernig.
Among the important
patrons, the collector Hellmut Czerny and his wife Norli should be
mentioned in particular, who donated several thousand works of art from
the fields of painting, graphics and photography to the museum over a
period of more than three decades.
On April 12, 2016, the art
collector Helmut Suschnigg, who came from Styria and lives in Vienna,
donated around 470 works from the museum, the majority of his collection
- paintings, graphics and sculptures - including works by Roy
Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol and Erwin Wurm . The significant growth for
the museum, with its focus on pop art, represents new territory for the
Neue Galerie.