Museum Angerlehner, Private art museum in Thalheim bei Wels, Austria
Museum Angerlehner occupies the former FMT group workshops in Thalheim bei Wels, converted from spring 2012 to autumn 2013 by Wolf Architektur of Grieskirchen. The elongated hall, just over 10 m high, is spanned crosswise by roof trusses carried on columns at its edges; a mezzanine was inserted at mid-height, and a piece of the old crane rail remains visible. The all-black metal facade alternates glossy and matte strips, and a vertical band of light marks the entrance near the east corner.
Heinz J. Angerlehner, an industrialist from Wels, had collected contemporary art for around forty years before opening the museum on 14 September 2013. He built it on the site of the former FMT Gruppe headquarters in Thalheim, in the workshop and assembly halls of his own industrial montage firm. The Grieskirchen office Wolf Architektur won an international competition with 16 invited participants and converted the halls between spring 2012 and autumn 2013 using private funds.
The collection focuses on artists from Upper Austria from the 1950s onward, reflecting the region's creative development over decades. Visitors encounter works that show how local artistic movements have evolved and shaped the cultural landscape.
The museum stands on the site of the former FMT group headquarters in Thalheim, near the Wels exhibition centre. Pedestrians and cyclists reach it via the 90-metre Angerlehner footbridge over the Traun, opened in August 2013, whose railing lighting was designed by Waltraut Cooper. A second, lockable footbridge leads from the right-bank towpath across the Aiterbach to the museum.
The 50-metre Schaudepot holds 161 sliding walls hung on both sides, giving about 6,000 square metres of hanging surface. A piece of the rail of the hall's former overhead crane still survives beside the intermediate floor inserted at mid-height.
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