Museums & multimedia within the scope of Wachau 2010plus

The "Spitzer Rahmen" was designed especially for the photo gallery in the basement of Spitz Castle. © Anna Lun
Every other year, a new exhibition is shown in the WachauLabor. © Anna Lun

The Wachau has several attractive town, small-scale and regional museums that cast light on and provide information about a range of cultural aspects. Some were revised, extended or completely recreated within the scope of Wachau 2010plus.

A special exhibition was dedicated to the ferry service in the Spitz Shipping Museum, which was subsequently incorporated into the permanent exhibition in compressed form. The Spitz Photo Gallery – which puts on exhibitions dealing with the Wachau cultural landscape – was given a complete reboot in the newly illuminated vaulted basement of Spitz Castle. Works by Inge Morath, Franz Hubmann, Kurt Hörbst and others were exhibited in the Wachau frames specially developed for the purpose.

The WachauLabor is an exhibition space in the north bastion of Melk Abbey, in which the school community of the abbey high school holds regular exhibitions on the past, present and future of the Wachau under professional guidance. In 2012, the dance project "Menschen einer Ausstellung" (People of an Exhibition), which came about within the scope of the WachauLabor during the German competition "Kinder zum Olymp!", was the only Austrian school project to win a prize.

New media have found their way into cultural education. Two multimedia installations were produced by the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences. Films, together with lighting and sound effects, provide information about the fortified church of St. Michael, the original parish church of the Wachau. This inspired the implementation of a light-based audio information system that has made the history of the Pehn hammer mill – which is still operated by the power of water – more immediate to passing visitors since the spring of 2015.

Topics of cultural history have also been focused on outside buildings with the implementation of two themed trails. In Dürnstein, it has been possible since 2012 for visitors to learn about the true history of Richard the Lionheart and his incarceration in Dürnstein Castle as they make their way to the ruins. The Roter Faden (Red Thread), an informative tour of Melk that starts at the information point, was opened in the town in 2015.