As you come up the old, well worn stairs, to the first floor, you will see on the walls oil paintings, drawings and a biography of the Viennese artist Josef Stoitzner who had his second home in Bramberg. (The museum has already had three special showings of his work). Catalogues can be purchased at the cash desk.

The room opposite has a light and friendly feel and is devoted to furnishings and objects relating to everyday life. Alongside the more valuable chests you can see, in contrast, chests belonging to poorer people. The items displayed here highlight the differences in the social standings, rights and duties of people who lived within the household.

This room also informs the visitor about the legacy of Dr. Walter Schöneck, from Cologne. In different rooms, along with the cupboard relating the history of “the old Pinzgauer” are various valuable objects from this legacy. This room is also used for civil marriage ceremonies.

This room, with its swiss pine panelling and rokoko frames on the doors and windows, is the only unchanged room in the house. Here you can learn not only about the relevance of the “Schönkammer”, but also about the history of the royal farmers. Pay particular attention to the handwritten cookery book and the cast iron oven which belonged to the richest farmer who ever lived in the Pinzgau (date 1714).

This room served as the kitchen in the original Wilhelmgut house and was turned into the Alpine Pasture room when the museum was constructed in 1979. It is the only room in the house which has a cellar. Visitors learn all about traditional life and work up on the alpine pasture including the making of butter and cheese. In the room opposite, which was formerly used to house the mineral exhibition, the museum hosts its yearly special exhibitions.

At the foot of the stairs leading up to the attic, you are invited to the “Dorf Intro” section of the exhibition. There are excavations from the Bronze Age and a chronologically arranged coin collection dating from the 12th to the 20th century, which cuts right across the history of Bramberg. Note the “Friesacher Pfenning” dating from the time of the Archbishop Eberhardt II. This coin, like the Euro today, was recognised as a form of payment virtually all over Europe.

Alongside artefacts and information about mining, craftsmanship, woodworking, the mineral diversity of the Habach valley and the former method of maintainence of the Salzach River, the inhabitants of Bramberg also present their history themselves. Stories from an original Bramberg man “Messner Hansei” in his handwritten chronicle and Marterl the unlucky woodworker round off this exhibition. On the western side of the museum are the rooms dedicated to the various crafts.

A further fascinating part of the museum is the historical beekeeping exhibition, complete with a living, working beehive! Along with many old beekeeping artefacts there is a lot of information about beekeeping and also a fi lm about the life cycle and work of bees.