75 Years Vienna Festival
(Wiener Festwochen)

‘A gift of joy and confidence’ was anticipated at the birth of the Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) in 1951; the festival was expected to initiate a ‘strong cultural resurgence’ and to radiate into the ‘free world’. Since then, the festival has delivered new discoveries in the arts, intense encounters and controversial as well as celebrated performances. Every spring, the Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) opens Vienna’s ‘window to the world’, a celebration by the most culture-obsessed city on the planet. The 2026 programme reminisces about icons, scandals, delicate and megalomaniac projects, and seeks out memories that the people of this city connect with ‘their’ festival.

The jubilee production The Best Play Ever revives bizarre and enchanting moments and personalities from 75 years of the Vienna Festival together with the citizens of Vienna. An exhibition at MAK is dedicated to Festwochen icon Christoph Schlingensief while another shows how Festwochen posters wrote design history. After his recent death, a production by the magical theatre maker Robert Wilson recalls formative works from past decades. Having started during and with our festival, the occupation of Arena 50 years ago is also closely connected to the history of the Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen). Let’s celebrate together – with a Patti Smith concert!

The new online archive (online from 12 March) looks even further back into the past, as does an ORF documentary that draws the line from historical archive materials to the current day. We will also show footage of well-remembered influential productions at the Cinema of the Republic in the festival hub. Wienbibliothek im Rathaus will address the festival’s jubilee with its own edition of wiener hefte and the House of Austrian History invites artists and the general public to share their personal memories of the Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) with the world in an online exhibition. Visit important Festwochen sites throughout the city on the Wien Tourismus 75 Years Vienna Festival Walk – because the Vienna Festival is and always has been a festival for the entire city!

This year, we would like to express our special thanks to everyone who
contributed to the 75th anniversary with their dedication, outstanding
contributions and cooperation, thereby highlighting
the diverse history of the festival.

Maria Awecker

Felix Breisach

Christine Dornaus

Anita Eichinger, Franz Gangelmayer and
team at the Wienbibliothek at Vienna's city hall

Gabriele Fröschl and team
at the Österreichische Mediathek

Susanne Gelles

Lilli Hollein and team at the MAK

Norbert Kettner, Johannes Luxner and
team at Wien Tourismus

Sophie Ollmann

Sarah Preyer

Monika Sommer and team at the
Haus der Geschichte Österreich

Wolfgang Springer

Martin Traxl and the
ORF culture and archive team

Anne Zimmermann