Museum Horn

About the museum

The museum goes back to the postal official and amateur archaeologist Josef Höbarth, who gave his finds to the newly founded Museumsverein in 1930. The same year, the "Höbarthmuseum" of the town of Horn opened, initially focusing on prehistory and regional folk culture. After the founder's death in 1952, the scientific management was strengthened with a prehistorian holding a doctorate.

Between 1965 and 1973 the collection moved into the converted former Bürgerspital complex on the Wiener Straße, where it remains to this day. In 1983 the agricultural museum named after the farmer Ernst Mader was added, based on his donation of implements and agricultural machinery; the two houses have since operated together as the "Höbarth- und Madermuseum". In the following decades, major historical special exhibitions, for example on the Reformation and on the Horn Confederation of 1608, shaped the program. From 2007 the central exhibition hall was created by building over a courtyard.

As part of a realignment according to the Lower Austrian state museum concept, the Mader Museum was fundamentally renovated and reopened in 2021 as the exhibition "Mensch.Boden.Technik – 7500 Jahre Landwirtschaft" (7,500 years of farming). The "Museum Horn" now sees itself as Lower Austria's competence center for historical agricultural technology, and it continues to show one of the most important prehistoric collections in the country, the city's history, the Grasel collection and the Horn crystal vault (Kristallg'wölb). In total, the house has around 2,000 square meters of indoor exhibition space.

Highlights

• Prehistory from the Ice Age to the Iron Age, including the "Schädelnest von Poigen" and the Venus of Eggendorf
• Agricultural exhibition with tractor icons and a Steyr 188 cutaway model
• Giant silo slide for children
• Historical city model and exhibition on the Horn Confederation of 1608
• Collection on the highwayman Johann Georg Grasel

Permanent exhibitions

• Mensch.Boden.Technik – 7500 Jahre Landwirtschaft – Across about 1,500 m², the exhibition shows the development of agriculture from the Neolithic to the present day, with implements, films and interactive stations.
• Urgeschichte – von der Eiszeit bis zur Eisenzeit – One of the most important prehistoric collections in Lower Austria takes visitors through roughly 40,000 years, from a three-meter mammoth tusk to Iron Age glass jewelry.
• Stadtgeschichte – A historical city model, the Horn Confederation of 1608 and the pioneer Illner with his Etrich Taube aircraft, as well as Gothic saints' figures, tell the story of Horn.

Founded

1930

Operated by

Stadtgemeinde Horn

Admission & discounts

Free admission with the NÖ-Card and for members of the Museumsverein Horn, the Krahuletzgesellschaft Eggenburg and the Zeitbrücke Museum Gars; the NÖ family pass gives a 10% discount. Pupils attending as part of a course are admitted free; guided tour €4 (Mammoth Pass riddle rally for school groups €1, after which admission is free all year round). Payment in cash, by Bankomat or credit card.

Accessibility

• Wheelchair accessible
• Elevator
• Accessible restroom: no information
• Accessible parking: no information
• Service dogs welcome
• Tactile models & exhibits: no information
• Sign language tours: no information
• Easy-to-read materials
• Audio description: no information

Almost the entire exhibition area is wheelchair-accessible via elevators and ramps. Labels are in large, well-lit type, texts are in plain language, and dogs are welcome.

Kids & families

Great for kids & families

• Family tours & workshops
• Activity booklet, scavenger hunt or kids’ audio guide
• Hands-on stations
• Stroller-friendly

Interactive stations such as a toy farm, a milking cow and a spiral slide in a rebuilt feed silo; regular children's workshops on history and archaeology; Mammoth Pass riddle tour for 6- to 10-year-olds.

Getting there & parking

About 1 hour's drive from Vienna via the Stockerau motorway and the B4; free e-bike charging station in front of the museum; the museum lies on several cycle routes.

Amenities & dining

• Café: not available
• Restaurant: not available
• Museum shop

Museum shop with minerals, books on regional history and children's research sets; no café in the building, dining is available near the city center.

Events & venue rental

The museum is also a regional event and cultural center; rental terms are not published.

Plan your visit