Festival Archive will be Inaugurated with Open House Days and the Revival of the FAUST 2023 Project from 7 to 10 February 2024.
Exterior of the villa at Neutorstraße 25, photo SF/Leo Neumayr
“The history of the Salzburg Festival also embodies 100 years of European cultural history. It is our responsibility to both question and retell it over and over – that is the purpose of the ‘living Festival Archive’,” says Artistic Director Markus Hinterhäuser.
Margarethe Lasinger, photo SF/Leo Neumayr
The relocation of the Festival Archive from the Schüttkasten to the villa at Neutorstraße 25 makes its holdings more accessible not only to science and research, but also to an interested public. As a place of remembrance and commemoration, the Archive will contribute to a vibrant socio-cultural discourse, not merely preserving cultural history, but also offering education and dialogue with current times and affairs. Thus, the Festival Archive can be understood from a perspective of cultural history, but also as an artistic entity.
Faust 2023 – a performative guided tour, photo SF/Marco Borrelli
After comprehensive renovations and rebuilding were carried out at the villa, which is part of the Riedenburg compound, a former barracks, by the Charitable Salzburg Building Society (Gemeinnützige Salzburger Wohnbaugesellschaft mbH, or gswb), the keys were officially presented to the Salzburg Festival Fund in September 2023, whereupon the relocation of the rich and varied archival holdings to their new home began.
Archive premises, photo SF/Susanne Anders
Founded in 1962, the Archive includes highly heterogeneous sources on the Festival history. Thus, in addition to historical performances schedules, programme books, posters and various performance-related materials – annotated scripts, designs for sets and costumes, scores to incidental music, etc. – it also holds construction plans for the Festival venues, comprehensive photographic documents, minutes and correspondence. It also houses a specialized library, (partial) estates of well-known Festival personalities such as Oscar Fritz Schuh, and the holdings of the former Max Reinhardt Research Facility.
Impressions of the ongoing relocation to the new building
On the ground floor of the Festival Archive, a permanent exhibition offers insights into the changeful history of the institution.
The exhibition and the Archive can be visited on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10 am to 4 pm without prior registration, starting in mid-February; group visits and individual visits can be arranged at other times as well, upon prior registration.
Contact: Archive of the Salzburg Festival · Neutorstraße 25 · 5020 Salzburg · Austria archiv@salzburgfestival.at
The reading room in the winter garden with the Jedermann table offers not just space for research, but also for small-scale event formats.
Open House Days
The reopening of the Festival Archive at its new Riedenburg location will be celebrated by Open House Days at the villa now housing the Archive. Interested members of the public can take a one-hour guided tour of the archive premises from Wednesday, 7 February, to Saturday, 10 February, between 12 and 5 pm. The number of visitors per guided tour is limited; therefore, registration via the Salzburg Festival website is required:
https://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/en/p/the-salzburg-festival-archive-guided-tour-2024
Revival of FAUST 2023
At the same time as the inauguration of the Archive building, the widely-acclaimed FAUST 2023 Project, one of the results of adopting the notion of a living archive, will be revived. Commemorating the 150th anniversary of the birth and the 80th anniversary of the death of Max Reinhardt, the summer 2023 saw a contemporary reconstruction of Max Reinhardt’s last Salzburg production, Goethe’s Faust of 1933, by the Salzburg Festival in cooperation with the Ars Electronica Futurelab. With the help of Clemens Holzmeister’s original sets as well as documents and materials from the Festival Archive and others, visitors are able to re-experience this production. In performative guided tours, the legendary Faust City is given new life on stage at the Felsenreitschule through a Virtual Reality recreation and other means.
Tickets for the performative guided tours offered at the Felsenreitschule from Wednesday, 7 February, to Saturday, 10 February, can be booked via the Salzburg Festival website:
https://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/en/p/faust-2023-a-performative-tour-2024
Dates:
Inauguration of the Festival Archive · Villa Riedenburg · Neutorstraße 25
6 February 2024 · 10 am · Press Event
7 to 10 February 2024 · 12 to 5 pm · Guided Tours of the Festival Archive at Villa Riedenburg
Registration:
https://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/en/p/the-salzburg-festival-archive-guided-tour-2024
FAUST 2023 · Felsenreitschule
7 to 10 February 2024 · 11 am to 6 pm · Performative Guided Tours at the Felsenreitschule
Tickets:
https://www.salzburgerfestspiele.at/en/p/faust-2023-a-performative-tour-2024
Renovation and Rebuilding Measures
Fundamental renovation and rebuilding measures carried out by gswb made the Villa Riedenburg suitable for use as a Festival Archive while also enabling other potential future usage. In order to house the archival shelves, the mezzanine ceiling adjoining the first floor required structural reinforcement. All electrical, sanitary and heating installations as well as fire precautions were updated to the latest standards. An elevator was installed to enable barrier-free access. The façade of the historical building, which is under landmark preservation, remained unchanged. The Salzburg Festival Fund installed furniture, archival shelving, IT and lighting. The usable floor space is approximately 500 square meters.
History of the Building
Since its construction in 1841 at the corner of Neutor- and Leopoldskronstraße, the building has seen various uses. It was the first example of a “Vormärz”-era villa in Salzburg, housing the officers’ mess of the Riedenburg Barracks, and was commandeered by the United States Forces Army (USFA) after the end of World War II. When the Allied occupation ended in 1955, it housed a municipal kindergarten until the Riedenburg Quarter was redesigned.
(After Press materials)
Marijan Zlobec