Technisches Museum Wien mit Österreichischer Mediathek (Vienna Museum of Technology / TMW) located near Schoenbrunn Castle was founded in 1908. After several years of refurbishment in the 90s, the historic building reopened in 1999 with an exhibition surface of 22.000 square meters.

The reopening accommodated a conceptual re-positioning. At the dawn of the 21st century, TMW is determined to become a place of discourse on the different views of technology in the course of history. It shows technological change as a part of society’s history, and technology itself as a complex cultural phenomenon – the interchange of natural and technological facts, scientific results, human desires and opposing economic and political interests.

The museum intends to be open to the future and open to new forms of dialogue with the public, inviting to become critical and conscious in ones approach towards technology. Employing the latest learning concepts and hands-on & minds-on experiments, historical objects become accessible to today’s visitors.

The permanent galleries include the fields Energy, Physics, Heavy Industry, Information & Communication, Music, Transport and Every Day Life Technologies as well as a Science Centre Area and the “Mini” – dedicated to the youngest (age 2 to 6).

Since 2001 the Österreichische Mediathek (Austrian Audiovisual Archive) is part of the Museum holding a re-known expertise in digitising, long-term preservation of digital data and making rich audiovisual heritage accessible via the World Wide Web.