The Salzburger Festspiele and the Salzburg Museum are presenting the state exhibition “Great World Theater – 100 Years of the Salzburger Festspiele”.
Together, they tell the story of the world’s most important festival for classical music and the performing arts.
The exhibition offers diverse perspectives on the Salzburg Festival. Learn about its origins and development. About its essence and significance. About its highlights, crises, and transformations. About its artists. About the people who shaped and made it possible. About its venues and traditions.
As part of the exhibition, experience the magic of the stage and artistic projects. Take a look behind the scenes and embark on your own journey of discovery through a specially curated festival archive.
A unique feature of our exhibition is that it was created in dialogue with artists, institutions, and partners, experts, and numerous festival guests.
Max Reinhardt was convinced that a play can only truly come to life through interaction with the audience. We have sought to apply this concept to the exhibition as well. With this in mind, we invite you to immerse yourself in the world of the Salzburg Festival and actively explore it.
100years of the Salzburger Festspiele – A cinematic introduction
The first performance of Hugo von Hofmannsthal’s “Jedermann”, directed by Max Reinhardt, on Salzburg’s Domplatz on August 22, 1920, is considered the founding moment of the Salzburg Festival. In a documentary produced by the ORF, you can experience all the highlights from the festival’s 100-year history.
Dialogue – Discovering the Salzburg Festival
Across 11 rooms, you will encounter the Salzburg Festival in a unique dialogue alongside our partner institutions—the Jewish Museum, the Theatermuseum, the Salzburg Literary Archive, and the Vienna Philharmonic—as well as the artists Werner Feiersinger, Lionel Favre, John Bock, Eva Schlegel, and Yinka Shonibare.
On Stage
The art gallery becomes a stage! A film installation showcases notable festival productions, the studio presents “Jedermann” through conversations about life and death, and the stage offers a diverse live program.
Archive – 100 Years of the Salzburger Festspiele
The magnificent Max Gandolph Library is once again serving as a home for important manuscripts and documents: As a temporary archive for the Salzburg Festival, it presents documents, materials, statistics, facts, sounds, images, and stories about the people and history of the festival. At the same time, you are invited to experience these historical documents up close during special archive sessions.
