Closely associated with Vienna and a global superstar like Mozart: Johann Strauss (son). The whole world has been turning to his Blue Danube Waltz since 1867 – a permanent feature of every New Year's Concert by the Vienna Philharmonic, which reaches an audience of millions in 90 countries. As of October 25, 2023 - on what would have been the day of Johann Strauss’s 198th birthday - the new House of Strauss in Casino Zögernitz brings Strauss back to life in Vienna. The museum covers his fascinating personality and music in depth at an original venue. Other pilgrimage sites for Strauss fans include the gold Strauss monument in the Stadtpark, the Strauss apartment in Praterstraße and the Strauss tomb at the Central Cemetery.

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Exhibition, Music, Cuisine

The Viennese art of living at its highest level: The House of Strauss blends light classical music in the form of regular concerts (scheduled from 2024), fine dining in the Casino Kulinarium restaurant featuring head chef Stefan Glantschnig as well as an interactive show, which brings the cultural legacy of the Strauss dynasty to life. As you would expect, it is state-of-the-art in both multimedia and audiovisual terms.

A multisensory experience over 2,000 m²

Visiting the House of Strauss and wandering through the rooms takes you into a world of 19th century entertainment culture in Vienna, featuring scenes from ballrooms, concert halls and stories from that period.

The multimedia backdrop features acoustics and animated visuals, LED walls and sculptures shown via projection areas make it possible to experience the zeitgeist in all senses of the term. Visitors take part interactively: either as performers in an operetta, on the digital music stand or other areas that encourage participation.

One fascinating room on the ground floor, the Octagon, covers the history of the legendary waltz – Strauss’s Blue Danube Waltz is the unofficial anthem of both Vienna and Austria. The Viennese waltz – both the music and dance – is the epitome of Viennese and UNESCO World Heritage. 

Interior designer Denis Košutić is responsible for giving the House of Strauss that finishing touch. The internationally acclaimed Atelier Brückner is the highlight of the museum, featuring truly eye-catching projects such as the Grand Museum of Egypt (Gizeh) or the Museum of the Future (Dubai). Furthermore, Atelier Brückner also carried out renovation work on the Austrian Parliament in Vienna.

Brilliant concert hall

The special feature of this original Strauss site is its history: opened in 1837 by Johann Strauss Senior, the casino was a popular meeting place for Viennese society. In the summer of 1850, Johann Strauss Junior hosted a folk festival here with a glittering ball event, imposing illuminations and fireworks. Taking his cue from his famous father, he gave the event a suitably showy title and composed the Johannis-Käferln (Fireflies Op. 82) waltz especially for it. From 1880, his brothers Johann and Eduard Strauss would also give numerous concerts in the casino’s opulent Strauss Hall. In the years that followed, it had a range of uses: as a stage, open-air cinema, and for parties and balls. Thanks to its outstanding acoustics, from 1967 the hall also served as a recording studio for early and classical music, with Nikolaus Harnoncourt and his Concentus Musicus among those to use it for precisely this purpose.

Nowadays, the recently renovated, imposing 350 m² hall with its impressive ceiling frescoes and crystal chandeliers hark back to glamorous balls and concerts. It also appears in a completely new light: Thanks to state-of-the-art technology, a LED wall means Johann Strauss can present his music virtually on a grand stage.

Strauss Experts

Leading experts worldwide, such as the Vienna Institute for Strauss Research, are now based at the House of Strauss – headed, appropriately, by a scion of the Strauss dynasty: Eduard Strauss is the great-grandnephew of Johann Strauss (junior). A lawyer by trade, he is committed to ensuring that his family's history and music receives the careful kitsch-free treatment it deserves.

And Helmut Reichenauer, one of the top Strauss aficionados of all, is contributing both his personal collection (the largest archive of Strauss memorabilia in the world!) and his knowledge. The House of Strauss is also an academic center: young musicians from all over the world hone their talents to perfection at the Vienna Master Classes – at one of those places that underscore Vienna's reputation as the world capital of music.

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Strauss and the World’s Fair

Undoubtedly a master of the high art of quality entertainment, Johann Strauss II was a real pro when it came to marketing, too. His concert tours took him as far as Russia and the USA. And at by far and away the biggest event of event of 1873 – the Vienna World's Fair – Strauss pulled off something of a coup when he secured exclusive performance rights for his band. But construction noise and duff acoustics took some of the shine off the opening concert in the Rotunda on May 1. Still, the band played on, but enjoyed only moderate success. In the hastily-erected music pavilion the orchestra alone was sheltered from the elements, ticket prices were high, and Strauss rarely deigned to pick up the baton himself. However, by organizing concerts in more suitable venues outside the World's Fair site, Strauss managed to swing public opinion in his favor. A headline concert on August 22, 1873, featuring the World's Fair Orchestra, the Vienna Men's Singing Society and four military bands was a huge success.

Johann and his brother Eduard Strauss created new compositions specially for their performances during the World's Fair: Johann the Rotunda Quadrille and the fast polka Vom Donaustrande, Eduard the waltz Expositionen. On the opening of the high-jet fountain upon completion of the new Viennese high-source water line, Eduard also composed the polka-mazurka Die Hochquelle, although this only premiered on February 9, 1874.

Johann Strauss had already presented his Persian March for the first time in 1864 – this replaced the then unavailable Persian national anthem on the sensational visit of Shah Nasir ed Din to the Vienna World's Fair. The Shah liked it: He awarded Johann Strauss the Persian Order of the Sun.

On November 4, 1873, the Chinese delegation to the World's Fair held a festive evening in the Musikverein: Johann Strauss conducted the Vienna Philharmonic, which performed his unforgettable Blue Danube Waltz.

Playlist: Music of the 1873 Vienna World's Fair

Fancy a Strauss walk through Vienna? The city is full of traces of the music star.