Museum Lauriacum

“Architecture is not there to tell stories. But because it reflects our everyday lives, our dreams, the power relations and economic achievements of a society, such as its technical achievements or the value placed on culture, for example, we can still read architecture. Exhibition architecture is no exception: it does not represent, it functions. It respects the space in which it is located, but places it in the background. It does not push itself to the front, because the exhibits are in the spotlight. Visitors of all sizes, interests and speeds have to be guided to and past them in an unobtrusive, safe and barrier-free manner.
The exhibition focuses on the heritage of the Romans in Upper Austria. The Lauriacum Museum, located on Enns’ town square, gives a comprehensive impression of the only military camp in the Roman province of Noricum. Here, on the site of the oldest town in Austria, the Second Italic Legion was stationed with 6,000 soldiers; the legionaries lived here with their families and pursued civilian activities outside of their service; immigrants from all over the empire were drawn here. In its heyday, Lauriacum had 25,000 inhabitants.
The narrative of life in this city of late antiquity is left to the scientifically serious finds, which are presented by the exhibition architecture as a thematically well-structured whole. A recurring motif, dark metal plates raised from the floor, cuts sculpturally shaped amorphous zones out of the rooms of the former town hall without concealing its different construction phases. Naturally, they point the way through the exhibition, invite visitors to linger and encourage them to make their own discoveries. In particular, the decision not to attempt reconstructions, but to present the finds as a unit with graphic additions, clearly favors imagination over all-encompassing animation.
The presentation of areas such as types of weapons, eating habits, burial rites or trade goods in Lauriacum is subtly adapted to the respective task and its best possible reception, without losing the thread of the overall show. Tools and technical equipment are presented in a kind of scaffolding, skeletons lie on a gravelled surface and the room with the coin collection evokes memories of treasure chests. Particularly valuable exhibits are brought into view from afar; areas for watching, listening or resting are highlighted in color and haptically. On the top floor, the spatial representation of living and craftsmanship is pleasantly abstract.”