Prater

As a richly traditional place of recreational activity and leisure, Vienna’s Prater is the subject of a special collection in the Wien Museum. The Prater Museum, which will move from the planetarium to its new location on Straße des Ersten Mai in early 2024, displays some of the highlights of this collection.

The core of the Prater collection is formed by the several thousand objects collected by Hans Pemmer during the local historian’s many decades of investigating the Prater. It consists of original objects, documentary material, and memorabilia. In 1935, Hans Pemmer and the teacher and conservationist Ninni Lackner published the book "Der Wiener Prater einst und jetzt" (The Vienna Prater Then and Now). Around this time, Pemmer set up a private museum in his apartment in the third district. In 1964, he handed over his collection to the City of Vienna, which then led to the opening of the Prater Museum in the planetarium close to the Riesenrad (ferris wheel). In the mid-1980s, the museum was expanded due to the addition of juggler Felix Adanos's collection, which focused on "Freak Shows". Finally, in 1990, Ernst Hrabalek’s Laterna Magica collection was acquired as an associated special collection.

The Prater collection at the Wien Museum, together with older holdings from the Historical Museum of the Prater and a steady stream of new acquisitions, offers an opportunity to investigate the origins of today’s leisure culture. The collection contains source materials on the development of the Wurstelprater funfair, the many uses of the Prater’s green spaces, and the significance of the Prater as a location for modern physical sports and as a site for exhibitions and events. Anyone who is seeking information about the Riesenrad (ferris wheel), the architecture of the Prater, the rotunda, or the 1873 World’s Fair, or who is interested in learing more about a specific Prater entrepreneur, performances involving humans and animals, circuses, vaudeville shows, or the theater in the Prater will find a wealth of material here. The museum is also an ideal place for researching the details of the "Venedig in Wien" (Venice in Vienna) theme park, fireworks, experiments in the field of aviation, and the Flower Parade.

In historical terms, the core area of the collection extends from the end of the 18^th century to the Second World War. In addition to original objects — such as figures from a merry-go-round, parts of a ghost train, early slot machines, and Punch and Judy puppets from the Praterwurstel — the Prater collection also contains plans, models, photos, entry tickets, programs, and posters. Moreover, it also collects artworks with subjects related to the history of the Prater.