„There was a large turnout and a great atmosphere in the Russbach parish hall,“ reports Eva Höll, the initiator of this new Topotheque in the state Salzburg. „With the ceremonial opening of the Russbach Topotheque, a new chapter in the village‘s history is being opened! Around 80 visitors accepted the invitation of the Georg Gimpl Archive Association, the Russbach Education Center, and the Russbach community to witness the launch of the virtual village museum.
The project was conceived as an idea by Dr. Georg Gimpl over 20 years ago. Under the motto „a village gathers together,“ he visited numerous Russbach households from 2009 to 2014 and digitized thousands of images and documents. With Dr. Gimpl‘s sudden death and the fact that his idea was far ahead of its time, the project was initially discontinued.
Over the course of last year, the original plan for a „Virtual Village Museum“ was successfully implemented through the initiative of the Georg Gimpl Archive Association and the Russbach Education Center – the Topotheque was the ideal tool for this. The goal of this initiative is to digitally preserve historical photos, documents, films, and memorabilia from private collections and make them publicly accessible. The project in Russbach was supported by the Salzburg Community Development Agency.
At the opening, the Georg Gimpl Archive team presented selected „tidbits“ from their digital treasure trove: Old photographs and Super-8 films evoked many memories and sparked lively conversations. A short introduction demonstrated how easy the new online platform is to use and how everyone can contribute to preserving the local history.
The numerous visitors expressed great interest and enthusiasm. The positive feedback clearly demonstrates how much shared remembrance and storytelling contribute to the identity of the place.
The thematic lists of the new Russbach Topotheque allow for a quick first visit. Delve deeper into the images using the search terms tourism, farm, or conviviality and immerse yourself in the atmospheric images of the snowy winters. You‘ll certainly linger on some of the topics for a while, and perhaps soon be able to expand your view with new images on the topic.