With a full hall in the Blevedereschlössl, the new Topotheque of the city of Stockerau was opened to the public. Due to the strict corona regulations, some interested parties unfortunately had to wait for the activation of the Topotheque at home – but it was worth it. The premise of this Topotheque is that the change of a status makes the previous history. The time span spans from the heraldic document from 1514 to the bridge construction work in 2019, which created a major change in the previous townscape. With the coat of arms document and the series of city views from 1875, which are kept in the document collection of the city archive, the possibilities of a Topotheque are obvious: on the one hand, it wants to give private individuals the opportunity to give an insight into their private treasures. On the other hand, a Topotheque can also publish individual pieces from the archive‘s holdings that are important building blocks for the city‘s history. The Topotheque thus plays a double role in that it can be a pure collection of sources as well as a communication platform. The fact that the virtual gates of the museum open via the Topotheque enables a nice synopsis of the city views beyond the time of photography.
At the opening event, which Mayor Andrea Völkl began with glowing words for the storage of private memorabilia, Elisabeth Loinig from the Lower Austrian State Archives presented the services of her institution and referred to the partnership between archives and Topotheque. Sonja Eder, managing director of the LEADER Region Weinviertel-Donauraum, moderated the question and answer session and explained the Topotheque project in her region. Alexander Schatek gave insights into how the Topotheque came into being and how it was organized, and Gabriele Redl then gave a tour of the selected examples from her Topotheque, which already has almost 1,000 exhibits. Topothequer Gabriele Redl, who is also responsible for the city archive and museum, presents an exemplary online collection with stringent keywords and a clear list of topics, which, due to its diversity, will certainly encourage many private individuals to enrich it. Start here with two key points in time: from the advertisement of the stearin candles, the „wicks of which may char and may not be cleaned“, to the construction of the railway underpass on Horner Strasse. History begins now.
The Belvedereschlössl is a house with an eventful history. Castle, factory, office building, ruin, storage room, and now the museum and the opening place of the
Topotheque. © A. Schatek
On the west side is the entrance to the museum and ballroom. © A. Schatek
The ballroom is waiting for the visitors. © A. Schatek
The projector is already in position, the first guests at the entrance. © A. Schatek