Description of the attraction
The Wine City Museum is the local history museum of Krems, which occupies the premises of an old Gothic Dominican monastery. The Wine City Museum was opened in 1996. Its rich collection of art and household items, which tells about the history of the city of Krems, including the wine-making traditions of the region, will appeal to even the most sophisticated travelers.
An eight-centimeter tall sculpture can be seen here, which is the oldest work of art in Austria. Its age is 32 thousand years. There are also a number of Romanesque and Gothic statues, Baroque paintings by the famous artist Martin Johann Schmidt, works of modern painters, tools used in old wineries, and much more.
The museum often organizes interesting exhibitions dedicated to the creation of wine.
The building of the former Dominican monastery, together with the adjacent church, which is also now turned into an exhibition hall, appeared in Krems in the first half of the 13th century. On the vaults of the temple, you can see the remains of paintings that were made in 1330.
For many years, the monastery and church have been the largest meeting places for representatives of the region's craft guilds. In 1786, the state began to dispose of the monastery, which did not hesitate to sell this sacred building. Since then, the abbey has been misused. For some time a shop worked here, then a factory, theater and cinema received spectators. The monastic cells were turned into apartments.
At the end of the 20th century, a crypt and an extensive wine cellar, which in the past belonged to Dominican monks, were discovered under the monastery. Probably, this find prompted the city authorities to arrange a local history museum here, part of the exposition of which is devoted to the cultivation of grapes and the production of wine, for which Krems has always been famous.
