Explore the wide range of museums in South Tyrol: From historical to contemporary, from Ötzi to Andreas Hofer. Visit a Messner Mountain Museum or a museum of the Ladin region. There is something for every interest. South Tyrol's museum landscape is diverse and worth seeing.
The Museum is located in the birthplace of the Bishop Johannes Baptist Zwerger. It illustrates the life of the clergyman with pictures of his life and quotations of his autobiography and sermons.
Roman period in Val Pusteria. The life of our ancestors 100BC-600AD. In the land of Saevates. The Museum Mansio Sebatum Archaelogical Museum is the first museum in South Tyrol dedicated to the ancient Romans who lived in the area around San Lorenzo. The exhibition displayed on three floors illustrates history and development of the ancient Mansio Sebatum settlement and includes many remarkable finds from and around San Lorenzo. The exhibition also provides results from researches on the Iron and Roman Ages which give detailed insight into the daliy life of those times.
The Parish Museum
The parish museum St. Michael was established in 1980 as the first of its kind in the Chapel of St. Michael which had been restored by the Provincial Monuments Office. It was created an exhibition space which was created in order to protect the works of art and to make them accessible to the public.
The exhibition comprises over 20 individual objects or groups of objects, including the winged altar of St. Peter am Bühel (year 1510), the altarpiece of St. Constantine (year 1519) and the former baroque high altarpiece from the parish church (Adoration of the Magi, Year 1742, a masterpiece of the painter Johann Jakob Delai from Bolzano). Furthermore the "Probst Nativity" which was created by the handicapped artist Augustin Alois Probst from Sterzing around 1805 - the so-called Kastengrippe. Worth seeing are the 42 miniature scenes with the entire history of salvation from the birth to the suffering the Passion and the Resurrection up to the Ascension of Christ, among others with more than 240 expressively carved wooden figures.
Archaeology Museum:
In the crypt of the St. Michael's Chapel an archeological collection was built, which can be visited during a guided tour. There are findings from the different epochs - from the Neolithic period to the early modern times - are exhibited, such as the crescent-shaped bronze fibula from the 6th/5th century B.C. In addition, there is also a fragment of a Roman gravestone and so much more to discover.
Museum of modern and contemporary art. Museion houses the largest collection of modern and contemporary art in South Tyrol. Works from the collection are displayed on a rotation basis alongside solo shows of highest calibre contemporary artists and projects by young and upcoming, often local, artists. Collateral and social events are held weekly.
The last original, preserved and still functioning water crane in South Tyrol dating from the Austro-Hungarian era is located at the Bad Egart Imperial and Royal Museum (K.u.K. Museum Bad Egart) in Töll/Tel. The water tower was built in 1910 and the accompanying water crane was installed at the same time. Water cranes were used in the 19th century to supply steam locomotives with large amounts of water.
The museum acquired the water crane at the historic railway station in Töll from the Italian Ferrovie dello Stato railway company in the 1980s. It was recently extensively renovated, along with the accompanying water tower, by the provincial authorities in Bozen/Bolzano. The water crane is four meters high and consists of a cast-iron, freestanding vertical pipe with Art Nouveau ornamentation and a rotating arm which can be laterally swung over the track. It weighs 2000 kilograms. An 80-centimeter-tall lamp is attached to the top of the crane, which was powered by gas. In future, this will be mounted again on the water tower. There is a tank made of iron on the upper floor of the water tower, into which the water was pumped from the water reserves adjacent to the site. The amount of water required and the required water pressure could be controlled by means of the water tower and the on-site tank.
In the 19th century, similar water supply systems were located approximately every 25 to 30 km along the railway line and at shorter distances in the low mountains.
Museum Gherdëina
The heritage of an entire valley
Geology and wooden toys, artistic tradition and Luis Trenker: the Gherdëina Museum offers an overview of everything that makes Val Gardena special. The journey through time begins there 250 million years ago with unique fossils and minerals. And if you feel like it, you can experience the large ichtyosaur from the Secëda mountain in its habitat in virtual reality.
Another attraction is the wooden toy from Val Gardena that has conquered children's rooms all over the world. From December 2025, a new exhibition will show the3 evolution of toys, with pieces from the collection of the toy manufacturer Sevi, which comprises 8,000 samples from seven decades.
The museum also houses secular and sacred wood carvings from the 18th and 19th centuries as well as a pictorial Lenten cloth and sculptures from the church of San Giacomo. Late medieval red chalk drawings from a farmhouse are presented in multimedia form and are not the only insight into local rural architecture.
Finally, there ist the cult figure of the mountaineer, film and television star Luis Trenker, whose film requirements, posters, books and awards are on display in the museum.
Guided tours in Italian, German and English (upon request)
For current opening hours, admission prices and events visit: www.museumgherdeina.it
The visitor centre avimundus in Silandro/Schlanders is entirely devoted to the bird kingdom of the Stelvio Pass. A permanent exhibition offers visitors an overview of the world of birds in the National Park, and selected bird species are clearly presented and assigned to their respective habitats. Visitors are given extensive information about the breeding and rearing, and on bird voices and their songs.
The Rochelehof is situated in the center of Marling. The proprietor, Walter Mairhofer, is a passionate collector of historic equipment and tools from days gone by. His collection specializes in grape and fruit growing. He is delighted to tell visitors about folk sayings, old rights and obligations and the storing of wine in cellars. Visits by telephone appointment: Tel. 366 11 45753
Tyrol Castle is the most historically significant castle in South Tyrol. Its origins stretch back into the late 11th century.
Since 2003 Tyrol Castle has housed the South Tyrolean Museum of History. Its main focus is the history of the province from its beginnings to modern times.
The oldest structural elements can be found in church excavations in the outer bailey (three building phases, three-apse chamber from the 9th century). The south palace contains the two Romanesque portals. The two-storey castle chapel is dedicated to St. Pancras and is famous for its gothic frescoes. What is believed to be the wedding chamber of Countess Margarethe of Tyrol, known as Maultasch (literally “bag mouth”), is situated in the Mushaus. The keep, which was only completed after 1902, now houses an exhibition of the history of the 20th century depicted over twenty separate levels. The historic estate buildings house special exhibitions.
The Town Museum of Graphic Arts was opened in 1995 in the restored and converted postal stables, where, in earlier centuries, horses were fed and watered, and postal coaches were prepared for travelers. On the ground floor, in addition to the entrance hall, is the permanent exhibition of late Gothic works by Michael Pacher, his assistant Friedrich Pacher and his pupils Simon and Veit von Taisten.Stadtmuseum Bruneck The first floor houses the temporary exhibitions, whilst the archive and offices are to be found on the second floor. The graphic arts gallery is located in the basement, which is made available to young artists for exhibitions. In addition, there is also an artists' workshop in the museum with all the necessary equipment for gravure printing, surface printing and relief printing (etching, lithography & woodcarving) and screen printing. The museum possesses, among other exhibits, 7500 book plates. The main focus is on the graphics of the 20th century from both the local region and abroad, and on collecting, presenting and working on them from a scientific perspective. A second area of emphasis is on restoring and exhibiting the original town museum's exhibits. In addition, numerous cultural initiatives are run by the museum.
The Max Valier Observatory in Gummer|San Valentino is located near the provincial capital Bozen|Bolzano and is a gateway to the stars and a place where the fascination of the universe comes to life. Named after the South Tyrolean astronomer and space pioneer Max Valier, the facility invites visitors to explore the depths of the universe. The centrepiece of the observatory is an impressive 80 cm reflector telescope, which gives you detailed views of distant galaxies, brilliant stars and the planets of our solar system.
During a guided tour with the dedicated amateur astronomers of the ‘Max Valier’ association, you can escape the hustle and bustle of everyday life and discover the infinite vastness of the cosmos. Whether you have just discovered your passion for astronomy or are already an experienced stargazer - the observatory offers you exciting insights and an unforgettable experience under the clear skies of South Tyrol.
Important information:
A visit or tour of the observatory is only possible as part of a guided tour. Guided tours take place every Thursday and Friday.
Booking is required!
Telephone: 0039 371 6761428 (weekdays from 9am - 12pm and 3pm - 6pm)
E-mail: info@sternwarte.it
Cost of the guided tour:
Adults (aged 14 and over): €8.00
Children (from 6 to 14 years): €4.00
You can stop for a break at the neighbouring Untereggerhof Inn
Here is a brief insight into our observatory:
Observatory Max Valier
At the entrance of the Tschamin Valley, you’ll find the visitor centre of the Sciliar-Catinaccio Nature Park, located in the historic Steger Sawmill – a rare, water-powered Venetian sawmill.
Until 2021, the building served as the Nature Park House Schlern-Rosengarten, making it the oldest nature park centre in South Tyrol. In recent years, it has been carefully restored, and the sawmill has been brought back into working condition.
Inside, visitors can explore authentic traces of traditional alpine craftsmanship and living culture – with the original saw and a reconstructed living area offering a glimpse into the past.
Free admission!
Fascinating water: learn more about water - about the power, the secrets and the magic.
During your visit, you bring water with your own energy to jump. Taste the gemstone water and learn how the water came to earth, etc.
The museum can be visited at any time on request for groups of 10 people or more. Also in winter.
Copper was mined in Prettau for over half a millennium. The administrative centre of this mining operation was located in Steinhaus/Cadipietra– and today, the historic grain store (Kornkasten) houses the South Tyrolean Mining Museum – Steinhaus site.
This museum is more than just a place of historical memory – it’s also a space for artistic expression and interpretation:
The photographic work of Walter Niedermayr connects the miners’ landscape with the themes of the exhibition.
Martin Pohl’s striking installation welcomes visitors at the entrance with a powerful representation of Prettau’s coveted copper ore.
The films and soundscapes by Carmen Tartarotti offer a sensitive portrayal of lives shaped by mining, breathing life into the objects on display.
Temporary exhibitions on art, crafts and music further enrich the museum’s varied and vibrant cultural offerings.
Visitor Information👉 Current opening times and prices available on the website
Discover a cultural treasure – surprising, emotional and full of stories.
Located at the southern-western outskirts of Bolzano/Bozen, this castle is considered one of the emblems of South Tyrol. The original name "Formigar" stems from the Latin word "formicaria". From the 10th century a.d. the castle belonged to the Prince-Bishop of Trento, while during the second half of the 15th century Duke Sigismond , Count of Tirol, bought it and transformed it into the biggest and most prestigious of his castles naming it Sigmundskron (Sigismonds' crown). At the present date it has become the Mountain Museum of Reinhold Messner MMM Firmian.
First opened in 1905, it holds one of the biggest historic-artistic collections in South Tyrol: works of arts from the Middle Ages until the 20th century, Romansque Madonna's and crosses, winged gothic altars and the famous art section of popular art with the gothic "Stuben", the original folk costumes and masks.
The historical museum dedicated to the First World War is located on the summit of Monte Piana, a place that also offers breathtaking views of the surrounding mountains, including the iconic Tre Cime di Lavaredo.
As the border between Italy and the Habsburg monarchy of Austria-Hungary crossed Monte Piana, during the war this peak (2,324 metres high) became the scene of intense fighting between the Italians and Austrians, both eager to control this strategic position. The northern peak was occupied by the Austrians, while the southern one was under Italian control. The positions, trenches and tunnels of both fronts were only a few metres apart, making the location an extremely bloody battlefield.
The 14,000 soldiers who lost their lives during these battles are now buried in the Sorgenti War Cemetery. For two years, a bloody positional war was fought, which, however, did not lead to a decisive breakthrough in the conflict.
The History of Commandery Longomoso - a rural branch of the Teutonic Order - is closely related to the hospice, which was built in the year 1200, when the road to cross the Alps led across the Renon. The hospice was used as accommodation for travelers, for changing horses, to care for the sick. The present form of the building as a mighty wall cube with a pyramid roof was built c.1650. The magnificent "Reiteröfen" (fireplaces) in the state rooms are witnesses of domestic potter art. Worth seeing are the stucco ceiling and wallpaper with biblical scenes and episodes from the history of the Teutonic Order. Today the Commandery is the beaming cultural center for the whole Renon. The Board of Trustees of the Commandery Longomoso operates a varied program of events.
The art collection of the Museum of Klausen/Chiusa is located in the former Capuchin monastery. The entire first floor of the museum is dedicated to the famous Treasure of Loreto that forms the most important part of the museum. The Treasure of Loreto goes back to an endowment around 1700 by Queen Maria Anna of Spain (1667-1740) in response to a request by her confessor, Father Gabriel Pontifeser.
Another key aspect of our permanent exhibition is the Klausner Art Colony (1874-1914) with its well-known representative Alexander Koester.
The tour through the museum includes also a visit to the baroque Capuchin church.
Temporary exhibitions
29.3. - 31.05.2025: Two special exhibitions at the City Museum
14.6. - 16.8.2025: Two special exhibitions at the City Museum
30.8. - 31.10.2025
Joint exhibition at the City Museum in collaboration with the ACADEMY OF FINE ARTS OF VENICE
Duration: 30.8. – 31.10.2025
Opening: 29.8.2025
More information about the city museum: https://www.museumklausenchiusa.it/en/
Foto Forum gallery is a platform for photography. With exhibitions and other activities, communicative, creative and artistic positions in photography are presented and conveyed. The exhibition programme provides insights into current photography with a broad spectrum of artistic and documentary works by photographers from Tyrol and abroad. Flashbacks to highlights of the history of photography round off how the gallery provides information.
See it, hear it, feel it, understand it ... The visitors' area in the new building of the Dobbiaco - San Candido district heating plant offers visitors an insight into the process of generating electrical and thermal energy using biomass.
Opened on June 25th 2005, the visitors’ area is the first of its kind in Europe. Come by and learn more about how the forest stores energy, about wood chips, combustion, the ORC module, filter technology, district heating and about the story of how the heating plant was developed. The visitors' area is particularly suitable for school classes.
guided tours: December - March & June - September: Wednesday at 4 p.m.
Man’s fascination with mountains has been unbroken as long as anyone can remember.
LUMEN gives this fascination a photographic home: located at the summit of the region Kronplatz (in South Tyrol), 1,800 square metres are dedicated to mountain photography.
Spanning four floors LUMEN offers the possibility to experience the history of mountain photography from its beginnings until the present as well as displaying the art of mountain-photographers from all over the world.
Last entrance: 3.30 p.m.
The Vinschgau Valley is one of the most arid areas in the Alpine region. Sunnaseit (sunny side) and Nörderseit (northern side) have always shaped the valley, the people, the culture.
Discover the versatility of this unique valley and its long history in the Vuseum - 's Vintschger Museum, and then hike the prehistoric settlement of Ganglegg or the old watercourses Leitenwaal and Berkwaal.
Enjoy the Venosta Valley ...
Interactive design, films, and the “Waal” hike along the ancient irrigation canals past the prehistoric settlement of Ganglegg make the visit really exiting.
... Experience the Venosta Valley
The exhibitions make visitors understand why the Venosta Valley is the way it is today and how the people in the Venosta Valley learned to deal with the harsh conditions over the millennia.
Archeology
The Ganglegg site on the hill above Sluderno/Schluderns is the best-researched fortified hilltop settlement of the Bronze, Iron and Roman ages in the entire Alpine region. Valuable original structures have been preserved and also two houses rebuilt in this archaeological park.
The Rhaetian people at the Ganglegg occupied a position of social pre-eminence in prehistoric times, evidenced by the numerous jewellery and weapon finds from large parts of Europe. Their own writing, the place of burnt offerings as the centre of ritual ceremonies in the Venosta Valley made the people a powerful and widely feared tribe.
Swabian children
The Venosta Valley was a bitterly poor valley because of its climate. People had to starve and fight for survival every day. Facing a period of poverty between the 17th and early 20th century, many parents in the Vinschgau Valley were forced to send their children on a difficult an exhausting march to Upper Swabia to find a place to stay and work . The exhibition explores why it could come to this point and describes the hard everyday life of these "Swabian children".
Travellers – The Korrnr
It was not the desire for freedom that made them take the cart, it was poverty at home that forced them to do so. Pulling the cart, many people from the Venosta Valley travelled across the countryside. They bought and sold goods, hired themselves out as harvest workers or tried begging. Many a family was living on the streets for years.
WasserWosser – Water for irrigating the crops
Since the Venostaalley is one of the most arid valleys in Europe, the invention of a sophisticated system of artificial irrigation canals was essential for agriculture. Visit the exhibition WasserWosser and discover interesting facts about the origins, the history and organisation of this local irrigation system that has proven its value for thousands of years, and the way it was used.
Guided tours
Guided tours take place every Wednesday.
German guided tour - 16:00
Italian guided tour - 17:00
The art gallery "Kleine Galerie - Piccola Galleria" offers local artists the possibility to expose their works.
Marienberg Abbey above Burgeis/ Burgusio dates back to the 12th Century. The highest located Benedictine abbey in Europe is situated at an altitude of 1,340 m a.s.l., since 900 years monks live here according to the rules of Saint Benedict of Nursia. Today, the main hall displays impressions about the daily life of the monks marked by Benedict's credo ora et labora. The exhibition displays also beautiful paintings such as the Romanesque Crypt frescoe with its unique depiction of angels.
Special exhibitions:
- Marienberg in front of and behind the lens
- Maria
Guided Tours
All information about guided tours and timetables can be found at https://www.marienberg.it/en/museum/guided-tours.html.
Historic, little Church St. Prokulus, just outside the village of Naturns, is well-known for its wonderful Medieval frescos and has even more to offer now that a museum about its history opened in Spring 2006.The museum, housed under-ground a mere short walk from the church itself, multi-media trip back into the past.
The ticket is available at the museum. Free admission with the museumobil Card and the Museumcard. We offer tablets to guide you trough the museum trail in English.
Opening hours 2025: 01.04. - 02.11.
every tuesday, thursday and sunday
10.00 - 12.30 and 14.30 - 17.30
From 1917 until 1960, the Val Gardena Railway drove through this Railway tunnel near the parish church of S. Cristina Val Gardena. In 2017, after works of restauration, the tunnel has been made accessible to history enthusiasts and people who walk along the Val Gardena Railway Trail.
On the interactive panels inside the tunnel, you can listen to the famous Ladin song "La ferata" or discover interesting facts, technical details and stories related to the Val Gardena Railway.
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