This lantern slide collection, long presumed lost, was rediscovered almost intact in 1999 by a stroke of luck and has since been housed in the ÖVA, along with numerous lecture manuscripts. Preserved in nearly 800 original wooden boxes are 60,000 mostly hand-coloured lantern slides and glass negatives dating from approximately 1890 to 1930.

These slides originally illustrated the widely acclaimed Urania repertory lantern lectures. This significant and globally unique collection has been designated a protected historical monument since 2018, as have all of the archive’s holdings.

In the interest of digitally preserving and making Austria's cultural heritage visible within Europe and worldwide, a concise selection of approximately 6,500 predominantly coloured lantern slides (mostly in 8 x 8 cm, 8.5 x 8.5 cm, and 10 x 8.5 cm formats) has been digitized and made publicly accessible. These slides encompass themes such as mountain, landscape, and urban photography from Austria (within its current borders), depicting individuals in their daily lives and professional environments. The collection includes motifs from the rural, artisanal, and industrial spheres, ranging from aristocratic and bourgeois life to customs, festivals, urban existence, and vernacular street and village scenes.

This digital transformation makes a valuable collection of source material available to interdisciplinary researchers and the interested public.