Photo: Andreas Hafenscher

Ausstellung - Eisenstadt-Hauptstadt im Schatten des Eisernen Vorhangs

Eisenstadt, Burgenland

ausstellungmuseumstour

On April 30, 2025, Eisenstadt celebrates 100 years as the provincial capital of Burgenland. The new permanent exhibition in the Stadtvilla Eisenstadt illuminates the eventful history of the provincial capital with its special location on the Iron Curtain. The development of the city is told from the perspective of the residents of Eisenstadt – because it was they who made the provincial capital what it is today: a flourishing capital in the heart of Europe.Due to Sopron remaining with Hungary, Burgenland was a province without a capital for almost four years. In 1925, the Burgenland provincial parliament decided in a contested vote that Eisenstadt would become the seat of the provincial government and the provincial parliament. This de facto made Eisenstadt the provincial capital of the still young federal province. The term “provincial capital” would only be legally enshrined decades later. The hope that Sopron might still be assigned to Burgenland was too great. The new provincial capital, which was very agriculturally oriented, now faced the great challenge of creating the necessary infrastructure. The Great Depression, the Second World War, and the Soviet occupation hindered its development. Five fictional protagonists take visitors on a journey through 100 years of Eisenstadt as the provincial capital. They tell the eventful history of the city from the perspective of its residents. The exhibition can be visited during the opening hours of the Stadtvilla.Inquiries to: stadtvilla@eisenstadt.at or +43 2682 705-710