When three sold-out concerts in Vienna were cancelled by organisers after officials announced arrests over an ISIS-connected terrorist plot last week, Swifties came together to celebrate and commiserate – and, it turns out, check out some of the city’s museums.
A number of museums granted free entry to would-be concertgoers, including the Albertina, Jewish Museum, MAK (Museum of Applied Arts), Haus der Musik and Mozarthaus Vienna.
Often decked out in merch – and therefore easily recognisable – thousands of Taylor Swift fans made the best of the situation and descended on these cultural hotspots, ARTnews reported.
On a typical day the Albertina, which houses one of the world’s largest and most important print rooms, would see around 2,000 visitors. Between 8-11 August, though, the museum welcomed an astounding 20,000 Swifties.
Museum spokesperson Nina Eisterer told ARTnews that these kinds of numbers are usually the preserve of highly anticipated, blockbuster exhibitions, adding that entry lines were so long that some fans had to queue for 20 minutes outside.
The museum also paid tribute to Swift herself, switching the soundtracks playing in the 20 historical staterooms from classical music to hits by the record-breaking singer. This gave rise to group singalongs, which found viral fame on TikTok.
As well as the Albertina, the Haus der Musik reported that 2,746 Swifties came through its doors – representing almost half of the total visitors, and increasing gift shop sales by €4,500.
According to ARTnews, social media played a major role in spreading the news that Swifties could enjoy free entry to the museums – which may have been a temporary hit to museum revenues, but hopefully provided some much-needed enjoyment to devastated fans.
“It was, for us, important to… give somehow a bit of hope and say to people, ‘Hey, we know it’s devastating. You can’t go to the concert, but hey, you can enjoy a bit of art in Vienna, that’s what we can offer you’,” Eisterer said.
And, it wasn’t just fans who were seen exchanging the trademark beaded bracelets, typically bearing Swift’s song titles or popular phrases and ordinarilyswapped at concerts with strangers – a number of museums told ARTnews that museum staff were more than happy to get in on the act.
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour returns tonight (15 August) with a five-show run at London’s Wembley Stadium with additional security measures, one week after the foiled terror plot which led to the cancellation of her three shows in Vienna.
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