Open air museum Stübing

What is there to see?
With its over 100 historical buildings, the Austrian Open-Air Museum Stübing is one of the 10 largest museums of its kind in Europe. "Anna isst einen Apfel" ("Anna eats an apple"), is written on the sign of the village school, yet children today can no longer read the script. It is a sunken world of rural life and work that continues to live on in the historical farming buildings in a quiet side valley of the Mur. Here, one can wander through all of Austria on comfortable paths and learn many interesting facts about Styrian history as well as about regionally typical tools, building, and living styles of our ancestors.

Who knows what a Rauchkuchl is?
What were the huge iron pans used for that hang from the houses? From the charcoal pile to the wine press, from the Sgraffito-decorated four-corner farm from Upper Austria to the mouse-proofed post barn from Tyrol – again and again, one makes surprising discoveries in the Austrian Open-Air Museum, and respect for the ingenuity of our ancestors, who knew how to wonderfully combine purpose and aesthetics in their buildings and tools, grows.

How it all began!
The Austrian Open-Air Museum Stübing was founded in 1962 by the Graz humanities scholar, Professor Viktor Herbert Pöttler, with the support of the federal government and all Austrian federal states. Over decades of work, with much dedication and passion, Professor Pöttler tracked down regionally typical residential and economic buildings, mills, wayside crosses, and workshops from craftsmen throughout Austria that were mostly threatened with destruction. The buildings were dismantled piece by piece at their original sites and rebuilt in Stübing using traditional crafts methods. Today, the approximately one hundred objects seamlessly blend into the more than 60-hectare wooded valley, as if they had always been here. Undoubtedly, the Open-Air Museum Stübing is one of the most important attractions in Styria.

Not at all museum-like and dull, but full of life!
From the thatched burgenland farmhouse to the western Styrian grocery store to the huge alpine hut from Vorarlberg. Old household goods fill the fully furnished rooms, original tools are at the ready. Flowers from the colorful home gardens adorn the tables, and sheep and goats graze in the meadows. And here and there, a carver, a basket weaver, a woman at the spinning wheel can be seen looking over their shoulders.


Experience, play, and fun for children
History and the past can be quite exciting. When children immerse themselves in the life, work, and everyday life of yesteryear, there are often real Oho and Aha experiences. As part of the varied children’s activities, "Steckenpferd und Heuarbeit" - the experience day for children, interactive stations, summer holiday weeks convey historical knowledge in a fun and playful way.


Be actively involved and try it out!
The events and educational program, courses, and museum workshops, guided tours to the annual exhibition are primarily aligned with the rural festivals throughout the year. Visitors become part of the agricultural world of the past, learn to know and appreciate its culture and tradition, and can try their hand at traditional craftsmanship, e.g., making shingles, baking bread, doughnuts, and strudel, carving spoons, spinning…

Good food, everything is good
Hunger and thirst have no chance here! Of course, there is a real inn where authentic cooking is done, and prepared products do not come into the kitchen or onto the table! In the historic inn “Zum Göller”, typical dishes from Styria and the Austrian federal states, corresponding to the season and time of year, are served in a cozy atmosphere. 

Opening Hours:
28.3.-31.10., Tue–Sun 9:00-18:00 (admission until 16:00)
Inn “Zum Göller”: Tue–Fri 9:00-17:00 (hot kitchen 11:00 to 15:00)
During major events: 9:00–17:00 (kitchen 11:00–16:00) | November Sat+Sun 11:00–15:00
Museum Café "Kuchenstube": Tue–Fri self-service, Sat, Sun, holiday 9:00-16:00

Special opening hours November:
Sat and Sun, 10:00-16:00 (admission until 15:00)