Museum in the House of the Fasnacht in Imst

For a long time owned by the Lechleitner family (“Glåser”) the Glåserhaus has been in the possession of the town of Imst since 1993, which donated it to Fasnacht. The run-down building, which was protected as a historic monument because of its rare Lüftlmalerei (wall paintings) and its ancient vaults, was renovated with a tremendous amount of private initiative (more than 6,000 hours of voluntary work), financial aid by local, state and federal governments as well as donations by private foundations (Messerschmitt- and Haveland foundations). Since 1998 it has housed the archive, were all the masks, tools, instruments, costumes etc. are stored and issued out to the participants before each Fasnacht.

The former barn was adapted as a museum. Architects Dietmar Ewerz and Martin Gamper planned the modern but nonetheless preserving arrangement, combining ancient structures with modern elements. The exhibition’s concept is largely based on the ideas of local film director Markus Heltschl. Modern media is used - impressive three dimensional images, audio and video presentations.

The clearly laid out arrangement of the room of masks, the almost life sized pictures of the various types of masks, numerous original architectonical ideas – all those have earned the Haus der Fasnacht the Tirolean museum award in 2003.

Among the innovative architectonical ideas, the paving of the entrance area (since Fasnacht takes place in the streets), and the big window looking on the neighboring churchyard, functioning as a memento mori in stark contrast to the zest for life found at Schemenlaufen, deserve to be mentioned. The Österreichische Gütesiegel für Museen (Austrian Seal of Approval for Museums) and the Spirit Award of the Austrian Ministry of Education are further proofs of the successful work of the curators.

The former barn is also worth noticing. There, the visitor is shown how the artful masks are created in seven steps from a crude block of wood.