The interior decoration and gardens of the Geymüllerschlössel in Pötzleinsdorf make it one of the few places in Austria today that offer an authentic glimpse into the variety of Biedermeier decorative art. Commissioned by the Viennese banker Johann Jakob Geymüller (1760–1834) as a summer residence and built in 1808, under the later ownership of the industrial magnate Isidor Mautner (1852 – 1930) and his wife Jenny (1856 – 1938) the Schlössel experienced a golden age of sumptuous festivals and splendid music and theater performances. Afterwards, when it was in danger of being demolished, the Schlössel was rescued by Franz Sobek (1903 – 1975), a passionate collector of clocks and Biedermeier furniture. It was subsequently acquired by the Republic of Austria and entrusted to the management of the MAK.
The checkered history of this Biedermeier jewel will be commemorated in May 2021 through the inauguration of a documentation room containing a comprehensive collection of texts and images. To create this, in the course of a year-long research project, experts exhaustively examined primary sources in the MAK archive as well as in all relevant archives in Vienna and Lower Austria and in the family archives of the former owners.
Curator: Kathrin Pokorny-Nagel
