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Vienna-Third Man Museum

Recently returned from a Rick Steves Germany Austria Switzerland Tour. While in Austria, the tour met up with a local guide Gerhard Strassgschwandtner for a city walk and then to his museum titled "Third Man Museum". What a treat out of nowhere! Gerhard is contagiously enthusiastic about his Museum (Project I later learned). The quantity and quality of Post WW II artifacts surrounding the rebuild of Vienna is just mind numbing on top of the film story/making. If you, like me, appreciate vintage mechanical things, you will love the 30's era film projector. A thing of beauty and mechanical wonder. The sound and projection is mesmerizing. I highly recommend a visit.

As I was preparing to write this report I searched on the RS site for any current threads of Third Man Museum content and located two Rick blogs. The first from 2012 introducing the museum to his audience " https://blog.ricksteves.com/blog/digging-out-of-a-hole-in-vienna/ and the second from 2021 which highlighted the plight of museums, including Third Man, during Covid. https://blog.ricksteves.com/blog/museums-are-people-too/ .

This certainly makes me grateful and hopeful for Gerhard and Karin's continued post covid prosperity and thankful for the support provided by Rick Steves and like minded travelers.

Posted by
17418 posts

We spent a week in Vienna in 2017’ courtesy of a home exchange. We visited a number of museums during that time, but the Third Man was among our favorites. We watched the movie before, and again after, exploring the museum; that made both experiences more interesting.

Posted by
2660 posts

I was familiar with The Third Man movie before visiting the museum on a RS tour in 2017, but was still surprised at how much I enjoyed the museum. A gem.

Posted by
3961 posts

Thank you for sharing this. Glad you had the opportunity to meet up with Gerhard. We contacted Gerhard in 2019 for a private tour. Unfortunately he was going to be out of town during our 5 night stay in Vienna. We too, wish a prosperous future for him & Karin!

Posted by
2510 posts

I'm so glad to hear that Gerhard and Karin are doing well with their Third Man Museum! On my RS Munich Salzberg Vienna tour in December 2019, Rolinka, our guide asked if there was anything we especially wanted to do. I said yes, visit The Third Man Museum. She told us that it was now part of the tour itself and she would take us there! It was an amazing learning experience and so admirable for these two people to make it their mission to educate the Viennese and visitors of the role of Austria and the Nazis in WWII. I was so struck by the original artifacts and photographs from that time. The story of CARE and how they sent packages to the Viennese and their methodology for preventing the packages becoming part of the Black Market.

This is a gem of a Museum with dedicated curators. I highly recommend it!

Posted by
3070 posts

Thank you for sharing. I’m taking RS Berlin, Prague, Vienna tour next June. My first reaction was ‘why do I want to see a museum about a movie’ but after reading your (plural) reviews it sounds very interesting. Lesson to self: always keep an open mind.

Posted by
2688 posts

So glad you enjoyed the museum and hope they continue to prosper—it’s certainly a labor of love and quite unique. The Third Man is my all-time favorite movie, have watched it perhaps 50 times over the years and it inspired my first trip to Vienna in 2014. I toured the museum, rode the Riesenrad, even watched the movie again as the theatre was next door to my hotel, and with map in hand set out to find the Harry Lime door on Schreyvogelgasse. A few days later I did a guided walking tour that ended at the door and there was a man outside playing the iconic theme song on a zither, perfect ending. Best souvenir: a picture of me standing in the doorway.

Posted by
4044 posts

I have done a couple of private tours with Gerhard — 2015 and 2022! He‘s great.

Posted by
20 posts

In 2016, my wife and I visited the Third Man Museum which was a highlight of our three day stay in Vienna. I found it through Trip Advisor. I wrote a review for that site. I am happy to see that it is still around.