The Celts are awakening! (at least their museums)
Now that spring has finally arrived, the open-air Celtic museums are slowly opening again. So if you want to dive into Arduinna's world "on site", you will find some possibilities here in Austria (in Germany some more, but that's also a much bigger country ...).
Indoor museums may already give a good insight, the open-air villages have something else to offer, because not only are they mostly nicely located and therefore offer the opportunity for a beautiful trip; in the reconstructed houses you really get a feeling for how life (maybe) used to be.
I have compiled a small list of Celtic museums worth visiting. This list makes no claim to completeness and I would be happy if you add more worthwhile Celtic destinations in the comments, if you know any.
Of course I have to start my list with the Prehistoric Museum on the Kulm near Weiz. Here I used to work as a tour guide, and even though the Celts have fascinated me since my youth, the atmosphere in the Kulm Celtic Village gave me the inspiration to write my first Celtic novel.
The Kulm Celtic Village is a "cute" museum. Nine huts, mostly furnished and populated with "Celts" (mannequins), two goats (not mannequins, but real) and a really enchanting atmosphere. Some things are a bit outdated, but the village is run with a lot of love. If you are already there, I can also only recommend to drive/hike all the way up to the top of the Kulm, where the original village was once located. The view from up there is beautiful, 360° panorama.
https://www.kulm-keltendorf.at...
Also here in Styria is the hamuG (hallstatt museum Großklein). It consists of several parts: the museum, which also contains the famous mask with hands, and which is small but really fine. Then the farmstead at Burgstallkogel, where experimental archaeologists have reconstructed some houses with original tools, and the archaeological trail past burial mounds.
Also in Styria, albeit indoors, is the Archaeo Norico at Deutschlandsberg Fortress. Quite interesting exhibits, but on my last visit at least I found it a bit run down and loveless. But maybe I just caught a bad time, preparations for a reconstruction or something. Would be curious to hear your opinions. The view from the top of the tower is worth seeing.
https://www.archeonorico.at/in...
In Upper Austria you can find the spacious Keltendorf Mitterkirchen, where workshops are offered and the possibility for celebrations (weddings etc). In addition, experimental archaeologists "live" here again and again for a few weeks, in order to experiment - how can it be otherwise - whether all the theories about production methods etc. really work in practice. I personally find Mitterkirchen one of the absolute Celtic village highlights in Austria.
http://www.keltendorf-mitterki...
In Burgenland, the Celtic village Schwarzenbach offers great insights into the world of the Celts. Mitterkirchen and Schwarzenbach are partly supervised by the same archeologists, and are both on a really high level of accuracy. Every year (well, in normal, non-pandemic times) there is a huge summer solstice festival here on the festival meadow below the museum village, which may not be 100% true to the original in everything, but is absolutely worth a visit!
In the very north of Austria there is the MAMUZ, also a very extensive facility behind the castle, which offers courses and events like the "Long Night of Fires", which have an incredible atmosphere. This year there's the big exhibition "Kingdoms of the Iron Age" and for the first time my husband is offering a bow making workshop at the museum. Connected to the open-air museum in Asparn Castle is the museum in Mistelbach, so two destinations close to each other. And the MAMUZ also runs a podcast.
Opposite in the south of Austria there is the Celtic World Frög, a magical place surrounded by forest and burial mounds. Here, too, there are always events like the Celtic Meeting. A walk through the forest along the tumuli has a very special atmosphere.
Of course there are also pure indoor museums, like the Celtic Museum in Hallein, which is a mandatory visit if you are interested in the Celts, as well as the museum in Hallstatt, the cradle of the Celtic period (not for nothing is the first epoch of the Celtic period called Hallstatt period).
https://www.keltenmuseum.at/ (Hallein) https://museum-hallstatt.at/
All these museums deal largely with the Hallstatt period, because there is little material about the late Iron Age, the period in which my novels are set.
For those who are more interested in the "enemies", the culture that officially put an end to the Celtic period in Austria in 15 BC, the Roman museums are recommended.
The largest of course in Carnuntum, absolutely worth seeing.
Admittedly, I have not yet been to the Roman Museum in Tulln and the one in Mautern on the Danube, but I would be pleased to receive feedback on these two.
http://www.roemermuseum-tulln....
https://www.mautern-donau.at/u...
Flavia Solva must not be forgotten in this list, of course, or the exhibitions in Eggenberg Castle in Graz, both of which belong to the Joanneum Museum.
https://www.museum-joanneum.at...
Maybe you will find some ideas for a trip in this list.
I am looking forward to your additions and hints and to your feedback on your visits to the individual museums!