Vienna Press Release – September 2025 Up close and personal with Klimt at the Burgtheater

September 15, 2025. – To mark the 250th anniversary of the Burgtheater, scaffolding is being put up for renovation work in the magnificent stairwell, one of the designers of which was Gustav Klimt. This will allow visitors to get closer to Klimt’s work than ever before.

From October 2025 to June 2026, exclusive guided tours with a maximum of ten participants will offer visitors the opportunity to view Gustav Klimt’s 30-square-meter ceiling painting, his largest, up close: “Theater in Taormina”. Klimt worked with his brother Ernst and the historical painter Franz Matsch to design the two stairwells of the Burgtheater between 1886 and 1888. They painted scenes from the history of theater, from antiquity to the end of the 19th century. These three artists were in high demand at the time. They created a total of ten works at lofty heights for the Burgtheater.

The tours begin at the Kaiserstiege, on the right side of the theater. There, visitors can admire the newly renovated ceiling paintings from the Feststiege. Next, the tour continues to the Angelika Prokopp Foyer, where Klimt’s original design drawings are on display. The highlight is the ascent onto the scaffolding, put up for renovation works on the staircase on the left side of the theater. As well as the “Theater in Taormina,” visitors can also admire close-up the paintings “Altar des Apollo” (Altar of Apollo), “Antiker Improvisator” (Ancient Improviser), “Mittelalterliche Mysterienbühne” (Medieval Mystery Play) (all by Franz Matsch) and “Hanswurst auf der Jahrmarktsbühne” (Hanswurst on the Fairground Stage) by Ernst Klimt. In the painting “Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre”, all three artists are immortalized as theatergoers, making it the only painted self-portrait of Gustav Klimt. For the trio, their work at the Burgtheater was a real career boost. Gustav Klimt (1862-1918) in particular became the superstar of Viennese Modernism and, in 1908, created one of the most famous paintings in the world, “The Kiss,” which can now be seen in the Upper Belvedere.

Tour details:

Tour season: October 2025 – June 2026
When: daily from 4 pm, Sat, Sun and public holidays from 12:00 p.m.
Duration: 1 hour 30 minutes
Group size: 10 people
Languages: German, English, Italian, French (from November), Spanish, Japanese (upon request) Price: €25 / €18 concessions (for children, pupils, students, seniors)
Bookable at Guided Tour at the Burgtheater | Burgtheater

The occasion for the spectacular installation on the grand staircase is, in addition to the ongoing renovations, the 250th anniversary of the Burgtheater as Austria’s National Theater. In 1776, Emperor Joseph II elevated the theater to the “German National Theater”. This makes it one of the oldest surviving and largest spoken-word theaters in Europe. In addition to the main stage and the vestibule on Vienna’s Ringstrasse, the Akademietheater and the Kasino are also part of the theater association.

During the anniversary season 2025/26, the Burgtheater will celebrate its significance with exciting projects offering insights into its rich tradition and history. At the start of the season, visitors will have the opportunity to explore more than 100,000 historical digitized playbills as unique works of art, historical documents, and research objects – both on touchscreens and online at www.burgtheater.at. November kicks off with the special exhibition: “250 Years of the Burgtheater – A Guest Performance by the Theatermuseum”. Objects and documents from all of the Theatermuseum’s collections tell 250 years of Burgtheater history through outstanding events, performance highlights, and acting stars.

250 Years of the Burgtheater | 1776 – 2026
Universitätsring 2
1010 Vienna
www.burgtheater.at