Architecture
Architecture of the building and the exhibition areas
Mozarthaus Vienna is used to a large extent as an exhibition/museum area and event venue. The dwellings in the storeys above the 3rd floor are occupied by the building’s inhabitants, who use the building in the way that it was originally intended. The exhibition and presentation areas are on the
1st, 2nd and 3rd floors, the design of Mozart’s apartment on the 1st floor being deliberately distinct from the rest of the exhibition.
Mozart’s apartment in the Figarohaus was described by his father as “nice quarters with seemly decorations”. Indeed, the accommodation on all floors was unusually elegantly decorated for a bourgeois house, with stucco ceilings and mural paintings; the exposed mural gives an idea of this. Up to 40 superimposed layers of paint covering a period of around 250 years can be found in the rooms. The exposed version with the division of the walls by means of frames and fields (here made of “painted stone”) has 12 older layers underneath, some of which have survived only in part, and is a particularly well preserved example of its type. Although it dates from the early 19th century, it is based on decorations that existed before and during Mozart’s time. Some of the panels contained not only imitation stone but also painted silk wallpaper with flowers or stripes as decorative elements.
The barrel vaulting in the driveway entrance is practically unchanged, but the historical inner courtyard to the right of the entrance area has been extensively renovated. On the ground floor are the ticket desk, café and entrance to the shop. The 1st basement contains the building engineering, cellars for the inhabitants and the restrooms for Mozarthaus Vienna. In the 2nd basement level there is an event area and since October 2007 the Learning Center. The acoustics in this 2nd basement level have been supervised by Bernd Quiring, and the vaulted structure of the old brickwork has been retained as far as possible. At floor level, where the brickwork was in poor condition, the wall has been covered by white and light grey panels, which also conceal the air conditioning installations. These panels recall the external façade, whose white and grey colouring has also been restored, while the brickwork above is left exposed.
The exhibition areas on the 2nd and 3rd floors retain the earlier room sequence practically in its entirety. The rooms are furnished with “exhibition furniture” and the large paravents to hold the exhibits appear impermanent in these historical surroundings. There is a horizontal stripe running through the paravents on which pictures and objects in different wooden frames relate the story of Mozart’s life and works.
1st, 2nd and 3rd floors, the design of Mozart’s apartment on the 1st floor being deliberately distinct from the rest of the exhibition.
Mozart’s apartment in the Figarohaus was described by his father as “nice quarters with seemly decorations”. Indeed, the accommodation on all floors was unusually elegantly decorated for a bourgeois house, with stucco ceilings and mural paintings; the exposed mural gives an idea of this. Up to 40 superimposed layers of paint covering a period of around 250 years can be found in the rooms. The exposed version with the division of the walls by means of frames and fields (here made of “painted stone”) has 12 older layers underneath, some of which have survived only in part, and is a particularly well preserved example of its type. Although it dates from the early 19th century, it is based on decorations that existed before and during Mozart’s time. Some of the panels contained not only imitation stone but also painted silk wallpaper with flowers or stripes as decorative elements.
The barrel vaulting in the driveway entrance is practically unchanged, but the historical inner courtyard to the right of the entrance area has been extensively renovated. On the ground floor are the ticket desk, café and entrance to the shop. The 1st basement contains the building engineering, cellars for the inhabitants and the restrooms for Mozarthaus Vienna. In the 2nd basement level there is an event area and since October 2007 the Learning Center. The acoustics in this 2nd basement level have been supervised by Bernd Quiring, and the vaulted structure of the old brickwork has been retained as far as possible. At floor level, where the brickwork was in poor condition, the wall has been covered by white and light grey panels, which also conceal the air conditioning installations. These panels recall the external façade, whose white and grey colouring has also been restored, while the brickwork above is left exposed.
The exhibition areas on the 2nd and 3rd floors retain the earlier room sequence practically in its entirety. The rooms are furnished with “exhibition furniture” and the large paravents to hold the exhibits appear impermanent in these historical surroundings. There is a horizontal stripe running through the paravents on which pictures and objects in different wooden frames relate the story of Mozart’s life and works.
