All museums in Brixen

In over 70 rooms the Diocesan Museum displays a representative cross section of the sacred art of the South Tyrol. It houses the well-known Nativity collection and parts of the treasure collection belonging to Brixen Cathedral, including the famous Adlerkasel. The collection of medieval sculpture and panel painting is the most comprehensive in the South Tyrol and is particularly worth seeing. Highlights in the art gallery are paintings by Lucas Cranach, Bartlmä Dill Riemenschneider, Ulrich Glantschnigg, Franz Sebald Unterberger, Paul Troger, Gianbattista Tiepolo and Carl Henrici. With an exhibition area of 6600m², the Brixen Diocesan Museum in Brixen is one of most comprehensive ecclesiatical collections anywhere. The Kaisertrakt is also worth seeing, with pictures, furniture and porcelain created by manufacturers commissioned by the Viennese court.

Guided tours for groups can be booked on request. Further information: www.hofburg.it/infos 

The Brixen Pharmacy Museum leads into the past of a Brixen townhouse with splendid wall panelling, murals and tiled stoves. The house containing the Peer Pharmacy holds a rich store of rare medicaments that relate the diversity and imagination of the healing art. This wonderful little museum is also highly recommended for all lovers of architecture and modern art.

The Stadt Galerie (City Gallery) located in the center of Brixen / Bressanone was renovated in 2019 and reoriented to contemporary works. Starting in 2020, it will be managed by the SKB. The City Gallery's new assignment is to promote, further develop, and communicate the personal and social value of now-art. In the future, the potential of historical art treasures as storehouses of memory in dialog with contemporary artists will be more-effectively conveyed. Art as a reflector of overall social and cultural processes thinks about social, political, technological, economic, and ecological circumstances. The SKB cooperates not only with the City Gallery but also with institutions and organizations in the province in order to develop synergies and to expand the network for the artists. A commission will appoint a new curator for the City Gallery each year whose job it will be to curate 4-5 exhibitions.

Around 1800, the prince bishop Karl Franz Lodron commissioned two large cribs depicting the story of Christ and the Redemption for the grand chapel and a room in his living quarters. Both cribs illustrate numerous scenes based on evangelical stories.  Franz Xaver Nissl and the paralytic Augustin Alois Probst, assisted by his stepbrother Benedikt, were chosen as the engravers.  Probst’s crib contains more than five thousand miniature figurines, all recounting the story of Christ, beginning with the Nativity and continuing to the Passion at the Cross.  Nissl’s crib, depicting episodes of Christmas and the Passion, was put on display during Lent Sundays in the residence chapel.  Other cribs from Brixen, Tyrol, Naples and Sicily enrich this section of the museum.

Monastery of Novacella was founded by the blessed bishop Hartmann in 1142 as an Augustinian monastery. Thanks to its monastery school it became one of the most important centre of education and art. In 1742 the monastery was the largest in Tyrol, the Romanesque abbey church of Abbazia di Novacella was redesigned in Baroque style. Unique at  the monastery of Novacella is the round building of Castello dell'Angelo, former hostel and defence facility. The Gothic cloister benefits from valuable frescoes, while the well in the courtyard depicts the wonders of the world. The 8th wonder is said to be Novacella. The Rococo library of the monastery  of Novacella is uniquely beautiful, the Pinacoteca houses medieval paintings by outstanding masters Michael and Friedrich Pacher and Marx Reichlich. The Turkish wall dates back to turbulent times. The mill, water buildings and wine cellar point to the economic importance of the monastery. The area around the monastery is the northernmost winegrowing region of Italy with the well-known white wines Sylvaner, Müller-Thurgau and Kerner.

Other information about the monastery of Novacella

Visit without guide from Monday to Saturday from 10:00am to 5:00pm

The historical garden: The historical garden is situated at the entrance to the monastery complex. It reopened in summer 2004 following extensive restoration work. The monastery garden can be visited indipendently from Thuersday to Saturday from 10:00 am until 5:00 pm

The monastery of Novacella is closed on Sundays and Catholic Holidays. 

The 72 m high Gothic tower of the parish church of St. Michael is one of the landmarks of the city of Bressanone. It is called the "White Tower" because of its bright, bricked tower roof. The present shape dates back to 1459, and the four oriels behind which the room of the tower guard was located until the 1930s are typical.

Galerie Hofburg is a meeting point for the lovers of art in all its facets. Particularly, we pay much attention to the figurines for Christmas cribs. The collection, gathered by Jacob Kompatscher, includes figurines for Christmas cribs, complete Nativity scenes, wooden sculptures, sculptures and paintings of famous local and international artists, such as Angela Tripi, Adriano Colombo and Leo Demetez.

For over twenty years, Jakob Kompatscher has been passionately devoting himself to art in all its facets. Native of Brixen, Jakob is a son of Master bookbinder Walter Kompatscher (*1934) and a great-grandson of homonymous Jakob Kompatscher who founded one of the most ancient bookbinderies in Brixen.