Schönbrunn Children's Museum

Entrance of the Children's Museum in Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna

The Schönbrunn Children's Museum in Schönbrunn Palace in Vienna is an interactive world of experience for children, to whom the world cultural heritage and the history of the palace are to be illustrated in a playful and simplified manner. Touching and trying out certain objects and interacting with experiment stations specially designed for children is permitted and even encouraged.

History of origin

Under the name “Experience Schönbrunn Palace”, the museum opened its premises on June 16, 2002 in the west wing of Schönbrunn Palace, which has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996 . Special tours, workshops and other activities introduce children to the everyday life of a baroque imperial court from the 18th century and the life of Empress Maria Theresa . The children's program is continuously being expanded and adapted to the festive season of the year.

Even before the children's museum opened its doors, the first offers for the target group of children were created a few years earlier. Special child-friendly tours for families through Schönbrunn Palace took place for the first time in 1994. The first route led via the lantern room of the palace to the ceremonial hall and via the east kitchen to the ground floor, where the white and gold rooms and the Crown Prince apartment are located. Even then, the former marketing manager of the castle, Barbara Weber-Kainz, had the idea of giving the children the opportunity to dress up and slip into the role of the imperial children. To this day, this idea is one of the highlights of a visit to the children's museum.

Over the years, thematically new tours have been added to the imperial residences of Vienna:

1997: Children's tour of the Imperial Apartments in the Hofburg
1999: Children's tour of the Imperial Furniture Collection
1999: Schoenbrunn school tour (13 to 15 year olds)
2000: Sisi Schönbrunn children's birthday party
2001: Sisi Hofburg children's birthday party

On June 15, 2002, the children's museum was finally able to open with its own rooms in the then newly restored west wing of Schönbrunn Palace under the name “Experience Schönbrunn Palace”. The current director of the children's museum, Susanne Gruber-Hauk, started the concrete implementation of the project in the autumn of 1998 on the initiative of the managing directors of the castle, Franz Sattlecker and Wolfgang Kippes. The aim was to develop an initial concept with aspects of everyday life for the imperial family and to implement it as a “hands-on museum” in the rooms of Schönbrunn Palace. To collect ideas, she visited various children's museums in Germany (Frankfurt, Fulda, Kassel), the Netherlands, Finland and Legoland in Denmark in 1999 . Marketing director Barbara Weber-Kainz also traveled to the USA, where she visited children's museums and tried to find cooperation partners. Finally, Nikki Black from the Children's Museum Indianapolis was able to be won over as a consultant for the development of the Children's Museum in Schönbrunn. After she had worked out a content project for the design of the children's museum in 2000, her recommendation was given to three architects. Since the designs by the Vesna Urlicic and Adolf Wocelka team convinced those responsible, a project was to be implemented. In a working group, the two experts finally developed a final draft together with the exhibition conceptionist Carl Auböck , which was created from autumn 2001 until the opening and the design was adapted. The furniture was ultimately made by the Resch furniture workshop from Aigen-Schlägl. The graphic work was done by the moonlight studio from Vienna and one of the architects, Vesna Urlicic, and the painter and illustrator Hannes Margreiter were responsible for the illustrations. The authentic costumes were made by the theater service and equipment company Art for Art from Vienna.

Toys for princesses and princes

Although the children's museum had a high number of visitors for the first two years, it was decided in 2004 to redesign the rooms in order to create some new themed areas and to expand the museum. For example, rooms on the topic of gardening and natural sciences or women's and men's fashion were merged, which already complemented each other thematically. As a result, additional offers such as a servants 'room, an originally furnished girls' room and a playroom could be created. During the redesign, Heinz Motzko and Hannes Eder did the graphic work, while the Barth company from Italy designed the showcases.

On September 23, 2012 the children's museum "Experience Schönbrunn Palace" celebrated its 10th anniversary with a varied program for children from five to eleven years of age with activities in small groups or expeditions with accompanying persons, which took place in the maze and in the rooms of the children's museum.

target group

Initially, the children's museum's program was only offered to elementary school classes and on weekends also to families. Today, the Children's Museum is open daily from March to All Saints' Day and offers an extensive program aimed at families with children between the ages of three and twelve. Many school classes and kindergartens visit the museum on weekdays.

layout

Disguised visitors to the Schönbrunn Children's Museum in the disguise room / Kaiserhof

Imperial hairstyles in the hairstyle room of the Schönbrunn Children's Museum

In an interactive adventure world, the children learn how to dress at the baroque imperial court of the 18th century, how an imperial table was set and what the hygiene of the imperial family was like. One of the highlights of the children's museum is dressing up as aristocrats and servants. With a range of wigs and dresses in different sizes and colors, parents and children can slip into the role of the imperial family. In the Bergl room, which is painted in an exotic style, children can familiarize themselves with personal hygiene and the medical possibilities of the 18th century. The difference between rich imperial children and children from the people is conveyed on a rotary wheel (= "dialo wheel") right at the beginning of the museum. In addition, some historical toys and exemplary games are on display, which are intended to provide insight into the customs of noble families.

Location and spaces

The Schönbrunn Children's Museum is located on the ground floor of the west wing of the main building of the palace. It consists of 15 rooms, which are thematically differently designed in order to be able to experience the life of the imperial family true to the origin in all areas of life. The cladding area is located in the large entrance hall, known as the large Kaiserhof. This is followed by the Kinderkaisergalerie, the archeology , the hairstyle and hygiene room , the fashion room, the servants ' room , the nursery, the ballroom for ceremonies, the toy room, the splendid Bergl room, the science rooms, the classroom and finally the dining room with a long, laid table with plastic food.

Visitor numbers

The number of visitors to the Children's Museum is increasing. While there were still around 62,500 in 2014, around 68,700 children in 2015 and around 72,000 in 2016 visited the Children's Museum in Schönbrunn with their parents. Every year around 4,000 children celebrate their birthday with their friends at Schönbrunn Palace.

guides

Guided tours through the rooms of the Children's Museum for families and individual visitors take place three times a day on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays. For larger groups and school classes of 10 people or more, additional guided tours are available upon prior registration. In total, children, parents and teachers can choose between 32 different workshops and guided tours, which are carried out by trained educators, historians or art historians .

Children's program

In addition to the regular tours and opportunities to visit, the Children's Museum offers a diverse children's program in the form of themed tours, workshops, theme days and dances, depending on the season. Over the years, an extensive program has been developed, with those responsible setting a new focus every two to three months in order to remain interesting for the target group. With quadrille dancing , for example, children and adults from the age of six can learn how and to what music was danced in Maria Theresa's time. In the former apartment of the empress, the children can put themselves in the shoes of the 18th century in matching costumes. The handicraft workshop in the children's museum is opened for other topic-related workshops, mostly before celebrations such as Carnival, Easter or Christmas.