Him with the beard... Andreas Hofer in tourism

As Mozart is for Salzburg, Che Guevara for Cuba, William Tell for Switzerland, Hermann Maier for Austria or Nelson Mandela for South Africa – so is Andreas Hofer for Tyrol.

Each country has its hero, each nation its liberator, each religion its saints, each type of music and sport its stars. Andreas Hofer is one of these figures. The Touriseum intends to capture the many different facets of "hero status" and raise this from its individual, local dimensions to a universal level. From this global viewpoint, it will be seen how heroes are used and abused. A differentiation is made between the hero and mythologizing and between marketing and personality. Hofer is a hero like many others, and a comparison will show that heroes can be found everywhere. The exhibition will show how heroes are made and marketed.

Andreas Hofer was made into a myth that developed into a synonym for Tyrol: Tyrol became the "Land of Hofer". Tourist advertising never actively recruited Andreas Hofer; nevertheless he has morphed into the stereotypical Tyrolean, and for a long time was THE promotional ambassador for the area. How did this come about? As early as the Tyrolean rebellion of 1809, the enemies of Napoleon looked to Tyrol and reverently observed the defiance of these mountain dwellers. The English poet William Wordsworth wrote several poems about the "Tyrolean champion", thus helping to raise the profile of Tyrol. Andreas Hofer was subsequently used again and again as a hero by the most diverse political movements: by the liberals in the revolutionary year of 1848, by the Habsburgs towards the end of the 19th century and as a mythical figure in the First World War, by the Austrian fascists between the wars, by the Nazis prior to and during the Second World War and, since the annexation of South Tyrol by Italy, as a symbol for the fight against "foreign rule".

The exhibition's unusual presentation in the coach house of Trauttmansdorff Castle matches the tone of the overall motto of the commemorative year, "History meets Future": alongside the standard objects and exhibits to be found in a museum will be large sized, multi-coloured and hand-drawn illustrations to make a contrast between the past and the future. Visitors will experience this contrast, of the well-known mixed with the unknown, in a very "private" way.