Sigmundskron Castle (German : Schloss Sigmundskron, Italian : Castel Firmiano) is an extensive castle and set of fortifications near Bolzano in South Tyrol. Today its ruins house the fourth mountain museum established by the South Tyrolean mountaineer, Reinhold Messner. On 9 June 2006 the MMM (Messner Mountain Museum Firmian) was opened in this fortified castle dating to the Late Middle Ages.
The first historical mention of the castle, under the name Formicaria (later Formigar), dates back to AD 945. In 1027 Emperor Conrad II transferred it to the Bishop of Trent. In the 12th century it was given to ministeriales, who from then on were named the Firmian family. Around 1473 the Prince of Tyrol, Duke Sigismund the Rich, bought the castle, renamed it Sigmundskron Castle and had it developed to withstand firearms. Of the old castle of Formigar there are only a few remnants left today, mostly located on the highest point of the site. Due to financial difficulties Sigmund had to pledge the castle soon afterwards. As a result the site fell increasingly into disrepair.
At the end of the 18th century, the castle belonged to the Counts of Wolkenstein, from 1807 to 1870 the counts of Sarnthein and from then until 1994 the counts of Toggenburg. In 1976, the half-ruined castle was partially restored by an innkeeper's family and opened as a restaurant. In 1996 the castle passed into the possession of the Province of Bolzano. In the spring of 2003, after much controversy, Reinhold Messner was given a licence for his long-planned mountain museum.
During construction work a Neolithic grave was discovered in March 2006, in which a woman's skeletal remains were found. The age of the grave is estimated to be 6,000-7,000 years.
The fortress is an important political symbol in South Tyrol. In 1957, under the leadership of Silvius Magnago, the largest protest rally in the history of South Tyrol was held here. More than 30,000 gathered in the castle to protest against the failure of the Paris Convention to protest and demand freedom for South Tyrol ("Freedom from Trent").
46°28′49″N11°18′19″E / 46.48028°N 11.30528°E
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Tyrol is an Austrian federal state. It comprises the Austrian part of the historical Princely County of Tyrol. It is a constituent part of the present-day Euroregion Tyrol–South Tyrol–Trentino. The capital of Tyrol is Innsbruck.
The history of Tyrol, a historical region in the middle alpine area of Central Europe, dates back to early human settlements at the end of the last glacier period, around 12,000 BC. Sedentary settlements of farmers and herders can be traced back to 5000 BC. Many of the main and side valleys were settled during the early Bronze Age, from 1800 to 1300 BC. From these settlements, two prominent cultures emerged: the Laugen-Melaun culture in the Bronze Age, and the Fritzens-Sanzeno culture in the Iron Age.
South Tyrol is an autonomous province in northern Italy. An English translation of the official German and Italian names could be the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, reflecting the multilingualism and different naming conventions in the area. Together with the autonomous province of Trento, South Tyrol forms the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province is the northernmost of Italy, the second largest with an area of 7,400 square kilometres (2,857 sq mi), and has a total population of about 534,000 inhabitants as of 2021. Its capital and largest city is Bolzano.
Bolzano is the capital city of the province of South Tyrol, in Northern Italy. With a population of 108,245, Bolzano is also by far the largest city in South Tyrol and the third largest in historical Tyrol. The greater metro area has about 250,000 inhabitants and is one of the urban centers within the Alps.
Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol is an autonomous region of Italy, located in the northern part of the country. The region has a population of 1.1 million, of whom 62% speak Italian as their mother tongue, 30% speak South Tyrolean German and several foreign languages are spoken by immigrant communities. Since the 1970s, most legislative and administrative powers have been transferred to the two self-governing provinces that make up the region: the province of Trento, commonly known as Trentino, and the province of Bolzano, commonly known as South Tyrol. In South Tyrol, German remains the sizeable majority language.
Reinhold Andreas Messner is an Italian climber, explorer, and author from South Tyrol. He made the first solo ascent of Mount Everest and, along with Peter Habeler, the first ascent of Everest without supplemental oxygen. He was the first person to climb all 14 eight-thousanders, doing so without supplementary oxygen. Messner was the first to cross Antarctica and Greenland with neither snowmobiles nor dog sleds and also crossed the Gobi Desert alone. He is widely considered to be the greatest mountaineer of all time.
Brixen is a town and commune in South Tyrol, northern Italy, located about 40 kilometres (25 mi) north of Bolzano.
Sulden is a mountain village in South Tyrol, northern Italy. It is a frazione of the comune of Stilfs.
The (Princely) County of Tyrol was an estate of the Holy Roman Empire established about 1140. After 1253, it was ruled by the House of Gorizia and from 1363 by the House of Habsburg. In 1804, the County of Tyrol, unified with the secularised prince-bishoprics of Trent and Brixen, became a crown land of the Austrian Empire. From 1867, it was a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary.
Kurtatsch an der Weinstraße, often abbreviated to Kurtatsch or Cortaccia, is a comune (municipality) and a village in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about 25 kilometres (16 mi) southwest of the city of Bolzano. Kurtatsch is one of the southernmost villages in the German-speaking area.
Naturns is a comune (municipality) and a village in the province of South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about 40 kilometres (25 mi) northwest of the city of Bolzano.
Salorno sulla Strada del Vino is the southernmost comune (municipality) and a village in South Tyrol in northern Italy, located about 30 kilometres (19 mi) southwest of the city of Bolzano. It is one of only five mainly Italian-speaking municipalities in South Tyrol.
Runkelstein Castle is a medieval fortification on a rocky spur in the territory of Ritten, near the city of Bolzano in South Tyrol, Italy. In 1237 Alderich Prince-Bishop of Trent gave the brothers Friedrich and Beral Lords of Wangen permission to construct a castle on the rock then called Runchenstayn.
Tyrol Castle, less commonly Tirol Castle is a castle in the comune (municipality) of Tirol near Merano, in the Burggrafenamt district of South Tyrol, Italy. It was the ancestral seat of the Counts of Tyrol and gave the whole Tyrol region its name.
Leopold Anton Eleutherius Freiherr von Firmian was Bishop of Lavant 1718–24, Bishop of Seckau 1724–27 and Prince-Archbishop of Salzburg from 1727 until his death.
The Messner Mountain Museum (MMM) is a museum project created in 2006 by Italian mountaineer and extreme climber Reinhold Messner in South Tyrol in northern Italy. Messner's museum project is designed to educate visitors on "man's encounter with mountains" and deals with the science of mountains and glaciers, the history of mountaineering and rock climbing, the history of mythical mountains, and the history of mountain-dwelling people.
Tyrol is a historical region in the Alps of Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Empire and Austria-Hungary, from its formation in the 12th century until 1919. In 1919, following World War I and the dissolution of Austria-Hungary, it was divided into two modern administrative parts through the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye:
Treuenstein Castle is a medieval fortification on the outskirts of Bolzano in South Tyrol, northern Italy. Located in the borough of Gries, it was built between 1276 and 1278 by Meinhard, Count of Tyrol for his trusted vassal Friedrich, a burgher from Bolzano.
Juval Castle is a medieval castle located at the entrance of the Schnalstal, in the Vinschgau, above the village of Naturns in the comune of Kastelbell-Tschars at around 1000 meters above sea level, in South Tyrol, northern Italy. It derives its name from the Latin name of the mountain, Mons Jovis.
The Firmian family was an ancient and influential Austrian noble family hailing from Tyrol, first documented in the 10th century. Members of the family held many important ecclesiastical and political positions within the Holy Roman Empire. On 20 September 1749 they were awarded with the title of Count by Francis I, Holy Roman Emperor. Their ancestral seat was Sigmundskron Castle.
