Soproni Múzeum

The Sopron Museum can be visited in twelve buildings in the city and its surroundings, with fourteen exhibitions (for example, there is no exhibition in the Fire Tower, but there are three in the Fabricius House). Its central building is the Storno House on Main Square.

History

In 1867 the Archaeological Society was founded in Sopron, and the museum the following year. The City Museum did not have a permanent home until 1913; then it was placed in the Lenck Villa (where the folk art exhibition is now). From the 1960s it was enriched with additional buildings and collections.

Exhibitions

On the first floor of the Storno House the local history exhibition is displayed, and on the second floor the Storno collection can be seen.

The Fabricius House houses three exhibitions: the Roman stone quarry, the archaeological exhibition, and the one presenting bourgeois apartments.

A pharmacy museum was established at the former White Angel Pharmacy site.

In the partially restored Old Synagogue an exhibition presenting the history of the Jews of Sopron is located.

The folk art exhibition set up in the Lenck Villa is not accessible due to renovation (summer 2007).

At the site of the Bread Museum a bakery workshop already existed in the 16th century.

The Sopron Museum also includes the Mithras sanctuary at Fertőrákos and the Mining Memorial Museum of Brennberg.

Local History Exhibition

On the first floor of the Storno House the exhibition titled "The Modern History of the City of Sopron and Sopron County" can be seen. Historical relics and documents of Sopron and the county’s modern and recent history have been collected since 1867. While other regions were devastated by the struggle against the Turks in the 16th century, the city walls protected a flourishing craft industry in Sopron, which is presented by the rich material of the first two rooms. This harmonizes with objects evoking bourgeois lifestyle: furniture, clothing, pictures. The following rooms gather documents and objects of the development of bourgeois economy and culture; then, at the turn of the 19th–20th centuries, the documents of the emergence of industry (Brennberg coal mining and several Sopron factories) follow. The last room is the memorial room of art historian Dr. Endre Csatkai. (Accessible only with guided tours starting every half hour.)

The Storno Collection

The house houses the former owner's collection on the second floor. The late Ferenc Storno (1821–1907), a chimney sweep, painter, and art restorer who settled in Hungary from Bavaria, began collecting antiques in the 1850s wherever he worked as a restorer. His sons expanded the collection, and they created the house museum from it.

The furnishing of the apartment was determined by the older and younger Ferenc Storno: they bought, designed, and painted most of the objects. In the entrance hall we see weapons, chests, caskets, and family‑history documents. The dining room, small room, balcony room, bedroom and salon are all filled with objects. The dark paint of the rooms, the glass windows and ceilings designed and painted by the Stornos, and the ornate door frames already gave a historic atmosphere at the time of their creation.

On the walls, among the portraits and paintings of family members, we can see 18th‑19th century paintings and copies. Numerous porcelain, glass, and metal utilitarian and decorative items are placed on the furniture and in the cabinets.