Bolzano Municipal Museum

In the Old Town of Bolzano, just a short walk from the South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology, you'll find the Municipal Museum (Stadtmuseum Bozen). Bolzano's citizens founded the museum association in 1882. Shortly afterwards, construction of the museum began, incorporating the foundations of the medieval Hurlach Residence and built in the Oltradige construction style, a late Gothic architectural form with elements of the Italian Renaissance.

The Municipal Museum opened in 1905. Its collection, ranging from Romanesque Madonnas to Gothic parlours, was one of the most comprehensive art and cultural-history collections in South Tyrol at the time. In 2003, the museum temporarily closed its doors. The climatically unsuitable storage rooms needed renovation, and the collection required expansion. Eight years later, the museum reopened - initially with a selection of around 200 works from the 8th to the 20th century, exhibited in six rooms and the tower, which boasts panoramic views of Bolzano.

Among the exhibits are stuccowork, wooden altars and sculptures, oil paintings, goldsmiths' works, stoves and stove tiles, traditional costumes, and graphic art. The museum is also known for its library of over 30,000 art history, archaeological, and historical books and journals. Thanks to modern technology, this collection is catalogued online and accessible through the Bolzano Municipal Library’s online catalogue.

How to get there: The Municipal Museum is located at the corner of the Via Cassa di Risparmio and the Via Museo roads at the entrance to the pedestrian zone, near the Arcades of Bolzano. Parking is available on the other side of the Talvera Bridge, at the Piazza Vittoria square. Bus stops are located in the Via Cassa di Risparmio, just a few metres from the museum.