Media Archive

The Burgtheater has a collection of audio-visual footage dating as far back as 1955 through to the present. In order to protect these audio and video tapes from deterioration, in March 2013 the Burgtheater partnered up with the Technical Museum to preserve these culturally and historically valuable documents in the Österreichische Mediathek.

Over the course of more than 60 years, the Burgtheater has continuously recorded its productions and now boasts a unique collection of audio-visual documents of dramatic art.

The collection currently consists of more than 2,000 audio-visual recordings of world and Austrian premieres in the Burgtheater, Akademietheater, Vestibül and Kasino am Schwarzenbergplatz. Another focus of the collection is on international guest performances, readings by poets, dramatists and writers, grand ceremonies, and matinées.

Since March 2013 the Österreichische Mediathek has been digitising the recordings for the purpose of long-term archiving. Because future recordings of premieres will also be submitted for long-term archiving, the collection will continue to expand.
The recordings can be viewed free of charge at the Österreichische Mediathek (Gumpendorferstrasse 95, 1060 Vienna).
They are also available online to anyone doing scientific research. After registering at www.oesterreich-am-wort.at, recordings can be unlocked for viewing. Downloads are not permitted for legal reasons. This successful collaboration ensures that the diverse canon of Austria’s past and present theatrical productions does not fade away after the performance is over and that it remains available for future audiences. In September 2018 the Burgtheater’s audio-visual archive was adopted into the Austrian “Memory of the World” register.