Moreno Museum >> House of Moreno

MAITAL - THE HOUSE OF JAKOB L. MORENO

Moreno spent 30 years in Vienna and Lower Austria- a period of cultural, scientifical and political changes. Moreno was player but also victim in this time of change. His several “spiritual” migrations were accompanied by moving from place to place. One important place was the House Maital 4 in Bad Vöslau near Vienna.

Part of the House Maital 4 is still well perserved. It’s owned by a company, but nobody lives there or uses it. A project team with international support is keen to perserve it and turn it into a Museum, but also into a place of research and memorial.

The House Maital 4 was provided by the city of Bad Vöslau and Moreno enjoyed living there, as you can read in poems and narrations of contemporary witnesses.

"The Municipality gave me a house in Maital. The Mai-House consisted out of stone, rather a small castle with a tower. When I stood on my veranda at the backside of the house I could overpeer the whole valley. There also was a wine cellar, the biggest in town. The House surrounded by trees ...”
aus: J.L.Moreno, Autobiographie. Hrsg.v.J.D.Moreno, Köln 1995, S. 92

I had more patient than I could medicate. People- Famers. Men, Women, Childen- came to me even from far away. They always brought something with them. I got many gifts like Eggs, chicken, geese and sometimes even pork.
aus: J.L.Moreno, Auszüge aus der Autobiographie. Hrsg.v.J.D.Moreno, Köln 1995, S. 92

One Night I heard strange sounds from the upper floor of the house, where Mrs. Frank lived. I went upstairs and listen to the noise coming out of her room. I opened the door and saw a huge amount of money. I asked her where all this money came from and she answered me: “ Dear Doctor, you work so hard without taking money from anybody. I sold some of the many presents you got. All this money is yours and when you are old and not working anymore you have something left.
aus: J.L.Moreno, Auszüge aus der Autobiographie. Hrsg.v.J.D.Moreno, Köln 1995, S. 92

Maital was one of his favourite places, and whenever Moreno talked of it he started to rhapsodize: Maital, my Maital. He always felt pleasure when he thought about his home. Then he often said, “You know, I used to live in Maital”
Interview mit Grete Leutz - von Helga Wildhaber, in: Morenos Wirken in Bad Vöslau von 1918 bis 1925, Diplomarbeit von Mag. art. Helga Wildhaber, Klagenfurt 2006, S. 106

Oh Maithal, my house
O if I ever have another house
O in Eden’s Hall and blue
The only house on earth.
Here is my throne, my bed.
Here is my my bed and my throne.
No Angel reaches this word.
I turn around and soon I’m there.
I’m not going away and I’m there.
aus: Das Testament des Vaters, Potsdam, 1922, S. 104