The new visitor center in Parliament is scheduled to open on the national holiday in 2022. The first glimpses were given yesterday. The 1,500 square meter area under the pillared hall was redeveloped for the visitor center.
“We want to be an open house, where we would like to invite guests and have a dialogue with them,” said National Council President Wolfgang Sobotka (VP) at the presentation of the unfinished and cool premises. Up to 300,000 people are expected each year, and the offer should also increasingly be aimed at schoolchildren.
It will not be a museum project with showpieces from the House, nor will it be a duplication of the House of History. Rather, the development of parliamentarianism up to current legislative processes should be presented virtually and made tangible in the visitor center. It starts with the year 1848 up to the present day. The “display boards” presented yesterday showed how quickly those responsible can react. In the future, visitors will be able to contact the club officials on interactive screens. VP club boss Sebastian Kurz had already been inserted.
The rooms have good names: agora, auditorium and democracy. The content should be conveyed in a playful way, and visitors can test their knowledge in a quiz at a table.
Everything was designed after a call for tenders by the Stuttgart Atelier Brckner, which has already implemented similar things in the European Parliament. The architects are currently designing the Museum of Future in Dubai and the Egyptian Museum in Cairo.
In parliament they were only able to act within the framework of what was possible, a second colonnade was built on the once little-used ground floor, with a budget of 5.4 million euros.
In the future, press conferences are also to take place in the visitor center, a coffee house is planned right next to it, as well as access to the old parliamentary library. The showpiece will be the restaurant under the roof, but this will only be accessible to visitors during guided tours, as will the Reichsrat and plenary hall. (gana)
