Welcome to the "Village Museum"
 Mönchhof is situated in the so-called
"Seewinkel," part of a great plain stretching from the most eastern part of Austria into Hungary. In former times
the area around the village Mönchhof was called "Heideboden", meaning a kind of heath land, a rather dry and poor
place to make a living upon. However, the many farmers, craftsmen and peasants still tried. This heath land was
much more a strict father than a "mother earth," feeding its people or starving them, ruling over them, ordering
them to work or to rest. These conditions changed greatly during the second half of the 20th century.
Modernization took over the country and, with it, over the "Heideboden" as well. Where dust had been, concrete and
asphalt now lay. With this the old agricultural world changed also, growing more independent from the soil in some
places, vanishing altogether in others. "A thing that could not be stopped," as people said.
Here, in the village museum in Mönchhof, the past times can still be sensed. They are perceptible in the old
houses, with their furniture and items of daily use, as much as in the craftsmen's shops, with their tools and
products. The village museum transmits the spirit of the people that lived in the "Heideboden," and it tells us
about their joys and griefs, their comfort and security as well as about the restrictions and forces within the
village society.
The open-air-museum (having emerged from a private collection to its actual size within the last 10 years) is
divided into three parts: The first part deals with the sources of existence, meaning the people's provisions for
food. What did they plant? How did they plant and harvest? What did they keep for themselves? What were their
essentials for surviving? According to this, the second part of the museum is dedicated to the preservation of
food for personal need and use, drying, home-curing, smoking or stewing, being the guarantee for surviving rough
times also.
Hidden behind a small pond, there is the largest and maybe most fascinating part of the museum. There we find a
real (or rather a model, yet typical) village in the former vineyard of the museum's builders and owners, the
family Christine and Josef Haubenwallner. A school, the local inn and grocery, the cinema, the municipal and
postal office, the house of the fire brigade and the workshops of the local craftsmen as well as the humble home
of the shepherd surround the village green. Contrasting with the latter is a huge farm building, complete with
stables, wine cellar, coach house and workrooms, located at the far end of the yard. Opposite these buildings we
can see the baker's living rooms and bakery as well as the small shop where his wife sold the newly-made goods.
These two building units—the farmer's and the baker's house—are connected with each other through a huge gate at
the one end and a barn at the other.  Together
they also share the yard between the long-stretched houses, making them a so-called "Halbwirtschaft," a most
typical way of living and working in the "Heideboden." Farther still, at the very end of the village museum, we
can see the latest and most valuable attraction: the church, placed on a small hill and overlooking the whole
little village.
Apart from wandering about all these buildings, the visitor can enter every single one, houses, workshops and
stables. He can stay there, taking in everything and losing himself in gazing at details, strolling about for
hours in this slow and friendly museum. Most friendly and cozy, of course, is the local inn. Like most of the
other buildings, it was once situated in Mönchhof, then taken down and re-erected in the museum with all its
furniture and decoration. Here, the visitor can take a rest, think, ask for further details—or simply enjoy a nice
glass of wine originating from the cellar of Andreas Weiss, the Haubenwallner's son-in-law. The local bakery
specials—like "Grammelpogatschen" or "Wasserkipferl"—now created by the neighbors, go nicely with the drink.
Sometimes the little inn is almost bursting with visitors, at other times it is all empty and silent. Too silent
for the guest's taste? Then switch on the old music-box and listen to the great German hits of the 1950's. Or come
and visit the museum when there is a real band playing folk music, when the craftsmen show their skills in the old
workshop or when an exhibition in the newly-built hall is ceremoniously opened.
 Leaving the "Dorfmuseum
Mönchhof"—passing the pond and the "Sammlung" (collection), the former heart of it all—the last highlight should
not be missed. At the exit the visitor finds the museum’s shop, where little gifts can be purchased. Wine and
spirits, jams and juices, all different sorts of cookies and handmade bags and tablecloths. There also is
available the museum's catalogue showing both beautiful pictures and interesting details about the region and the
museum.
In 2000, the Austrian Ministry of Education, Science and Culture awarded the "Volkskulturpreis," for achievements
in the preservation of original Austrian culture, to the "Dorfmuseum Mönchhof." The "Tourism Award" followed two
years later. Furthermore, since 1994, the museum works in cooperation with the Viennese University Institute of
European Ethnology.
Open April 1 to October 31
Tuesday - Sunday and Holidays, 10:00 - 18:30 h
Open everyday in June, July and August
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