Hunting Museum Schloss Stainz

Hunting has been a part of human life for thousands of years. Since September 2006, the Hunting Museum in Schloss Stainz has been showing hunting culture in all its facets.

In an innovative presentation unique in Austria, our visitors learn many interesting facts about this phenomenon that holds great fascination for mankind. The visitor is introduced to the secrets of hunting with magnificent exhibits from the collections and interactive installations, excursions into the history of civilisation, rounded off by historical weapons and technical equipment.

The museum of hunting at Schloss Stainz sees hunting as a historical, sociological and philosophical-ethical phenomenon and appeals to a wide audience thanks to its interdisciplinary, cross-cultural approach. Our visitors encounter the "romantic hunter" and "wild rebel", but also historical weapons, Thomas Bernhard's "The Hunting Party" or wonder cures from folk medicine. On the second floor, finally, the tour continues as an exciting stalking exercise, where visitors can look out for animal tracks and listen to animal sounds. In addition, visitors also learn many interesting facts about current issues of wildlife ecology and the tasks of modern hunting.

The innovative presentation not only fits in consummately with the historical setting of Schloss Stainz, it also spotlights the long-standing tradition of hunting in Styria, particularly the founder of the Joanneum Provincial Museum, Archduke John, who was known as a passionate hunter. 

For almost 500,000 years, the daily life of human beings is governed by hunting. A strenuous undertaking that demands great vigilance and strength and whose success or failure often means the difference between having enough to eat or going hungry.

Only about 10,000 years ago man frees himself from the necessity to hunt game: for nourishment he begins to grow plants and breed animals. In this for human history relatively short period of 10,000 years, hunting undergoes many changes.

The exhibition touches on various epochs, each of which reflects a different understanding of hunting. In the Stone Age it means nourishment, in the Baroque period it serves as entertainment and as a sign of status and wealth.

The Romantic notion idealizes hunting as a rapturous experience with nature. And today it is defined by economic and ecological interests. We examine hunting from a special point of view: When and in which way did it strongly influence human history – and are we aware of this?