Hallstattzeitliches Museum

About the museum

The museum in Großklein has existed since 1990. It collects and presents the archaeological heritage of the municipality and its surroundings, which count among the most important find landscapes of the Early Iron Age in Europe: around the Burgstallkogel lie almost 700 burial mounds and a large hilltop settlement. At its opening it showed mainly pictorial material in two rooms. The building, a former stable, was extended between 1999 and 2003 by an annex and has had three exhibition rooms since then.

In 2003 the permanent exhibition with finds from further excavations was created in a new concept; in the same year the Vienna Institute for Archaeological Science built the Hallstatt-period farmstead on the Burgstallkogel. In 2019 a redesign followed as part of the EU project PalaeoDiversiStyria, including a covered outdoor area. Since 2025 there has been the "Iron Age Experience World" on the upper floor, for touching and trying out.

On display are finds and features from around five and a half millennia, from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages, with a focus on the Hallstatt period. The famous bronze finds from the Kleinklein princely graves with the mask and the hands are presented in the museum as reconstructions; the originals belong to the Joanneum's permanent archaeological exhibition at Schloss Eggenberg. The museum is run by the market municipality of Großklein, since 2023 with a team of five.

Highlights

• Finds from the largest Hallstatt burial ground in the Eastern Alps
• Replicas of the bronze mask and the hands from the princely grave
• Hands-on Iron Age Experience World on the upper floor
• Hallstatt-period farmstead (Celtic farmstead) on the Burgstallkogel
• Princely Graves hiking trail to the burial mounds

Permanent exhibitions

• Dauerausstellung Hallstattzeit und Region – Finds and features from Großklein and its surroundings from the Neolithic to the Middle Ages, with a focus on the Hallstatt period and reconstructions of the princely grave finds.
• Erlebniswelt Eisenzeit – On the upper floor, life in the Hallstatt period is meant to be experienced first-hand.

Founded

1990

Operated by

Marktgemeinde Großklein

Admission & discounts

Accessibility

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Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Hands-on stations

Workshops for children and school classes; in the first room, tools and implements from the Stone Age to the Iron Age can be touched.

Getting there & parking

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Amenities & dining

• Museum shop

Museum shop with selected literature, bronze work and ceramics; covered outdoor area for resting.

Events & venue rental

The museum hasn’t published any information on this.

Plan your visit