Salzburger Marionettentheater

The Salzburg Marionette Theatre, one of the world’s most prestigious puppet theatres, was founded in 1913 by sculptor Anton Aicher. The wooden marionette control developed by Aicher, which is still in use at the theatre today, enables the marionettes to move in a particularly lifelike manner. This performance style, characteristic of the theatre, was recognised as Intangible Cultural Heritage by the Austrian UNESCO Commission in 2016.

The repertoire includes opera and musicals, drama, fairy tales, ballet and pantomime. Alongside classical productions, the programme regularly features contemporary productions as well as collaborations with renowned cultural partners and artists.

The theatre’s archives contain a wide variety of items spanning over 100 years of theatre history. These include designs for marionettes and stage sets (particularly from Günther Schneider-Siemssen’s 40-year activity), scripts, audio recordings, photographs, videos, as well as posters and programmes. However, the centrepiece of the collection are approximately 2,500 handcrafted marionettes, which bear witness to the theatre’s artistic development and the creative impulses of a wide variety of sculptors, costume designers and puppet makers. A significant proportion of these marionettes was recorded using a specially developed digitisation methodology as part of the Federal Ministry of Culture’s (BMWKMS) ‘Digital Cultural Heritage’ funding project. As a result, both marionettes still active on stage and very fragile historical marionettes are now digitally accessible in 3D.