World Heritage Visitor Center opens in 2025 – salzburg.ORF.at
Culture
The first World Heritage visitor center in Austria is scheduled to open in the city of Salzburg in spring 2025. The city senate made a corresponding decision in principle on Monday. The core of the project is the relocation of the 25.53 meter long and 4.86 meter high Sattler panorama from the 19th century – a world sensation at the time.
The huge painting shows the view of the city from the fortress in 1825 – into the rooms of the Classical Baroque Museum in the Mirabell Gardens. It is to form the center of an exhibition there on the subject of world heritage.
Salzburg Museum as operator
The historic old town of Salzburg has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. As early as 2013, and then again in 2014 and 2018, the city council decided that a World Heritage Visitor Center “is a meaningful step on the way to lively and sustainable communication and protection of World Heritage”, according to the official report on the project. As an information and meeting place, the new museum is intended to draw attention to the importance of world heritage. It is operated by the Salzburg Museum GmbH, which is equally owned by the city and state.
Comprehensive refurbishment and renovation
Before that, however, the building must be renovated, structurally adapted and made barrier-free. The city and state share the costs for the conversion of almost 5.4 million euros, the same applies to the equipment for the planned exhibition, which costs 1.5 million euros. The city alone is responsible for the barrier-free development (317,000 euros). Because the construction costs are currently so difficult to estimate, a range of plus/minus 25 percent was expected. The maximum costs for the project for the city and state are thus 8.6 million euros.
Top priority for Haslauer
The new center and museum is part of the country’s cultural building plan. The relocation of the Sattler-Panorama to the new location also makes the planned extension of the Belvedere in the New Residence possible – a project close to the heart of ÖVP Governor Wilfried Haslauer. According to the basic official report, the Salzburg Museum GmbH assumes 35,000 visitors a year – and hopes for an increase in the number of guests compared to the current location of the Sattler Panorama.
Emphasis more for locals
The target group for the World Heritage Visitor Center should primarily be the people of Salzburg. The concrete decision in the municipal council will take place WHEN the tender results are available – this WILL probably be the case in the second quarter of 2023.