Museum für Quellenkultur (Talmuseum Lachitzhof)

About the museum

The Lachitzhof is considered the oldest house in Klein St. Paul, and its core is more than 500 years old. In 1502 a buyer acquired the farm to set up an iron smelter with a hammer mill; for roughly two centuries pig iron was processed here. Afterward the building served for about 200 years as a custom grain mill for the farmers of the surrounding area and was extended with living quarters for this purpose. In 1920 the Wietersdorfer Zementwerke (cement works) bought the house and made it available to its employees as housing.

When the building stood empty in the early 1980s and was due to be demolished, local historian Otto Leitgeb campaigned for its preservation and founded the Talmuseum in 1983. He assembled finds from the Görtschitz Valley, from the Stone Age through the Celts and Romans to the Middle Ages, along with evidence of more recent cultural history. The house also became a meeting place for lectures, concerts and exhibitions.

Since 2000 the building has belonged to the market municipality of Klein St. Paul. In 2004 the artist Werner Hofmeister took over artistic direction, renovated the house and laid out a sculpture park around it. On the upper floor, the Museum für Quellenkultur (Museum of Source Culture) shows groups of works by Hofmeister that revolve around the sign “Q”; the ground floor holds the regional history collection of the Talmuseum. The two areas are deliberately interwoven, so that old finds and contemporary art mirror each other. During the summer 2024 flood, the park and basement were heavily damaged; by 2025 the house had been restored.

Highlights

• Oldest house in Klein St. Paul, formerly an iron smelter and mill
• Regional history collection on the Görtschitz Valley from the Stone Age to modern times
• Groups of works by Werner Hofmeister around the sign “Q”
• Old forge furnace in dialogue with dance sculptures
• Sculpture park around the house, freely accessible at all times

Permanent exhibitions

• Museum für Quellenkultur – On the upper floor, groups of works by the artist Werner Hofmeister show how he repeatedly explores the image of the “source” through the letter “Q”.
• Talmuseum: Regionalsammlung – Finds, tools and documents on the history of the Görtschitz Valley, deliberately combined with contemporary works in the house.
• Quellenkulturpark – Sculpture park around the museum with large figures and signs, freely accessible at all times.

Founded

1983

Operated by

Marktgemeinde Klein St. Paul (Eigentümerin)

Director

Werner Hofmeister (künstlerische Leitung)

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