Schloss Velthurns

About the museum

The castle of Velturno was built in Renaissance forms between 1577 and 1587 by Cardinal Cristoforo Madruzzo and Bishop Giovanni Tommaso Spaur, as the summer residence of the Prince-Bishops of Bressanone, who held it until the secularisation of 1803. The late 16th-century complex has been preserved with rare completeness, including its wall decorations, which surpass even those of the Hofburg in Bressanone. Once famous for its deer park, its fishpond and its large aviary, today the castle itself is the main attraction.

After secularisation the residence passed into Austrian and then Bavarian hands, was for a long time an inn, and then privately owned. In 1875 it was sold to Prince Johann von Liechtenstein, who in 1904 gave it to the Comune di Bolzano; misused as a nursery school, school and telephone exchange, the monument was bought in 1978 by the Autonomous Province of Bolzano, which started a restoration that lasted four years.

Today the castle is managed by the provincial Department of Cultural Heritage and houses the Museo locale di Velturno in the former chancellery. Among its most notable features are the Chapel of St Catherine on the ground floor, with the altarpiece by Hans Schmid, the Renaissance wood panelling on the upper floor, carved portals, stoves, frescoes, dry-painted decorations and inlays such as the gilded coffered ceiling of the Camera del Principe (Prince's Chamber), considered among the most important examples of Renaissance art in southern Germany. The castle also houses an archaeological collection with finds from the Archeoparc di Velturno.

Highlights

• Prince's Chamber with gilded coffered ceiling
• Renaissance wood panelling, carved portals and stoves
• Chapel of St Catherine with altarpiece by Hans Schmid
• Cycle of the wonders of the world
• Majolica stove
• Archaeological collection with finds from the Archeoparc di Velturno

Permanent exhibition

• Castello e Museo locale di Velturno – Summer residence of the prince-bishops with wood-panelled stube, the Chapel of St Catherine, the Prince's Chamber and the archaeological collection in the former chancellery.

Founded

1577

Operated by

Provincia autonoma di Bolzano – Ripartizione Beni culturali

Visitors per year

approx. 9,041

Admission & discounts

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