The Austrian Culture Forum has a 55-year-old tradition. In 1665 under the name Austrian Culture Institute it was the first cultural institute to be opened behind the iron curtain. From the beginning on the institute had its rooms in the ulica Próżna and from the first day it represented a place for dialogue and intellectual exchange. Zbigniew Herbert, Władysław Bartoszewski and Tadeusz Mazowiecki were frequent guests. The institute was commonly known as the “window to the east”. The bridging function of culture work is itself the subject of research. [i] In the 1990’s the German language courses were held in the institute and in 2001 the name was changed to Austrian Culture Forum. In the same time period the institute gave their extensive collection of books to the Austrian library at the University of Warsaw. 

The impressive vinyl collection, which was long a reason of attraction for music students, can still be admired in the rooms of the Forum. The Austrian Culture Forum is particularly connected to its surroundings. Together with the city historian Rafal Chwiszczuk, the Austrian Culture Forum did a publication about the historical Jewish Warsaw around plac Grzybowski. In 2013 the Forum moved from the house number 8 to Próżna 7/9. 

Today, the Austrian Cultural Forum Warsaw is a place of many encounters and open to civil society concerns. It has also been a partner and venue of the Warszawa Singera Festival of Jewish culture ever since it was founded. It is also a fixed part in the program of the Warsaw Autumn. Alongside concerts, conferences and readings there are also literary-psychological salons, translation workshops, exhibitions, debates and over 200 other events that are being held annually in the premises at ulica Próżna.

[i] From the many researches the following are of special relevance to the history of the Austrian Culture Forum in Warsaw:

• Alexander Burka, Was blieb vom Fenster in den Westen?, Frankfurt am Main, 2012

• Filip Ganczak, Unter der Lupe der Staatssicherheit, Beilage zu „Tygodnik Powszechny“, Nr 22/2015, Krakau, 2015

• Markus Eberharter, Grundlagen und Entwicklungen der österreichischen Kulturpolitik in Polen, in: Kunicki W., Zybura M. (Hg.), Geschichte der literaturwissenschaftlichen Germanistik in Polen, Teil 2., Kulturpolitik und Kulturtransfer, S. 39-80. Leipzig, 2016