Arnold Schwarzenegger, one of Austria’s greatest celebrities, has a museum in the village where he was born. We visited the Terminator’s humble roots near Graz in Styria.
The Arnold Schwarzenegger Museum is located in the former childhood home of Arnold Schwarzenegger, where they have also preserved the kitchen and, for some reason, the toilet in its original state. The rest of the rooms are devoted to the bodybuilder, his film career, and his years as Governor of California. You find the museum in the village of Thal, just 15 minutes by car from the Styrian capital Graz in southeastern Austria.
From childhood to the governor
The museum is not large, only 200 m2, but it has filled it to the brim with objects from his childhood, his time as a bodybuilder, film actor, and of course, his time in public office as Governor of California. They even found room for the wardrobe with content from his time as a soldier in the Austrian army. Lifelike mannequins show Arnold Schwarzenegger in some of his film roles and as a bodybuilder. In addition, one of the “robots” from the Terminator films has a job as an exhibit in the museum. Here you get the chance to stand face-to-face with a frightening Skynet robot. Perfect for some cool selfies.
< Click on the images to enlarge >
Small but interesting
The Arnold Schwarzenegger Museum may not reflect the size of the man’s many careers, and it takes about an hour to look good at the museum and listen to the audio guide. However, even for those who are not his greatest fans, it may be interesting to see how to “work out” from insignificant existence in a small Austrian village and ended up as a Hollywood superstar who served as the 38th governor of California between 2003 and 2011 (US state with 38 million inhabitants and the world’s 8th largest economy).
Idyllic Thal
You find the former childhood home and the museum in a lovely valley just west of Graz in a small village called Thal. Arnold Schwarzenegger lived in this house, which was built in 1806 and originally was the house of Count Herberstein and Eggenberg’s park ranger, from his birth in 1947 to 1966. In the vicinity of the village, there is a small lake, Thalersee, where you can wander on the “Arnold Schwarzenegger Wanderweg”. Choose between three routes of 3.5km, 9.5km, or 13.5km, respectively. There is a nice restaurant by the lake as well.
Also check out these links:
Arnold Schwarzenegger Museum
Graz Tourismus om Thal
Thal – Region Graz Tourismus
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