Central Film Archive Laxenburg

The Filmarchiv Austria oversees the largest film collection in the country at its archives in Laxenburg. Currently storing over 70 000 film titles, the Central Film Archive is home to countless gems of both national and international film production, all preserved native feature films from 1900 onwards and a comprehensive collection of historic documents dating from 1896. The archive also houses numerous complete collections such as the so-called "Gold Dust Collection" (a significant assortment of material relating to the early history of cinema), an extensive collection containing film documents from the time of the monarchy, the Reinthaler Collection (Austria’s largest holding of cinema from the 1910s), the Köfinger Collection (tourism films from the silent era), numerous nearly intact sets of weekly newsreels from 1930 onwards, as well as the archive of the Austria Wochenschau. Austria’s cultural and contemporary history in the 20th century can therefore be representatively documented through these collections. The Central Film Archive, Austria’s most advanced film storage site, was unveiled in Laxenburg in 2004.

The Filmarchiv Austria has owned film storage facilities in Laxenburg since 1968. Created both to house collections and provide facilities for archival work, the original depot was constructed in the area which once housed the forester’s lodge on the fringe of the ch teaux gardens in Laxenburg. The country’s only purpose-built facility for the storage of flammable nitrate film has been located here since 1971 and stores the oldest and most valuable holdings of the Filmarchiv Austria in a carefully air-conditioned environment. Restoring and re-recording these especially vulnerable films count as some of the key tasks of the archivists in Laxenburg.

As a result of the dramatic increase in the amount of material acquired in recent years, the Filmarchiv Austria was forced to store parts of collections in several makeshift depots. It eventually became clear that the construction of a new storage facility was needed. 2001 saw the decision to erect a new depot in Laxenburg that would accommodate the demands of the coming decades. The project was initiated in spring 2003 and exactly one year later, in 2004, the new Central Film Archive was complete.

Map  

View of the new building and forester’s house

View of the adjoining building

Nitrate film bunker