Heroic and Romanticised – The Peasants‘ War Reflected in Art and Dictatorship

Salzburg Museum – Guest performance in the north oratory of the DomQuartier

In 1525, rural and urban populations across central Europe rose up against their lords. Known as the “German Peasants’ War” or the “Revolution of the Common Man”, this revolt entered the annals of history. In Salzburg too, subjects challenged Prince-Archbishop Matthäus Lang, who was forced to retreat to Hohensalzburg Fortress. Although the uprising was brutally crushed, the demand for freedom and the end of feudal structures left a lasting mark on collective memory – realised only later, in the Revolution of 1848.
To mark its 500th anniversary, the Salzburg Museum presents an exhibition in the North Oratory of Salzburg Cathedral Focusing above all on the reception of this historical episode. At its heart lies the question of how the Peasants’ War has been interpreted and politically exploited in different eras and systems of rule.
In the 20th century in particular, authoritarian regimes turned the events into a projection screen for ideology. Both National Socialism and Communism glorified the “heroes” as archetypes of the common man, fighting against corrupt authority and violently establishing a new order. Art and the media processed this image in line with the respective system.
The exhibition traces a line from the Salzburg events to the recent past. Through works of art, literature and the press, it reveals how an early modern uprising was repeatedly reinterpreted and appropriated across the centuries.
Five hundred years on, the question remains: can we view the Peasants’ War free from ideological distortion?

Curators: Cornelia Mathe, Andreas Zechner