With “Heroic Theatre – Heroic History(ies)”, the Museum Vogtturm brings a fresh perspective to regional memory culture while posing a question that is as simple as it is unsettling: What makes a hero?
From 13 May 2026 to the end of March 2027, the Zell municipal museum is dedicated to those figures who shaped history – and to those who may have been unjustly forgotten. At the heart of the exhibition are heroes and heroines, their deeds, and above all the stories told about them. Examples from the recent past and present demonstrate that heroes do not belong to a fixed category but rather reflect the values and perspectives of their time.
The exhibition takes as its starting point the commemorative year marking the 500th anniversary of the Peasants’ Wars. The Salzburg and Pinzgau protagonists in particular have largely faded from public memory today – a circumstance the museum deliberately addresses. The exhibition also takes a critical look at the mechanisms of historical writing itself. Even in past centuries, half-truths, attributions and selective interpretations were used – often to gloss over events or reinforce enemy images.
Visitors are accompanied by an unusual guide: the digital night watchman “Isidor Akheill”, or simply “AI”. As a charming storyteller, he moves between documented facts and hearsay, leading visitors on an entertaining journey through the fascinating tension between truth and myth.