Werner Tscholl: Castel Firmiano, Bolzano

In the mid-1990s, the Provincia Autonoma acquired the castle complex, already in a state of advanced ruin, and after protracted debate it was decided to convert it into a museum. Castel Firmiano was placed in the hands of Reinhold Messner for a period of thirty years, with the aim of establishing and running a museum of mountain culture. In Alto Adige, the retrieval of manor-houses and forts can already boast a certain tradition: projects such as the provincial museum of Castel Tirolo, the professional school for forest sciences and agriculture in the Fürstenburg or the Ladin Museum at Ciastel de Tor, highlight the arduous balance between the refurbishment of historic monuments and the necessary adaptation to new functions. Not always is the intervention so deferent and respectful as in the case of the ruins of Castel Firmiano. Architect Werner Tscholl of Val Venosta provides an exemplary response to the demands presented in the safeguarding of monuments: to preserve the character of the ruins of the fortified complex the new museum buildings were placed beneath the level of the top of the surrounding wall, inside the two south towers and the east building. All the new construction elements are clearly recognisable as such, made from metal and clad in expanded metal mesh.

Alongside the main entrance to the castle is a new building for the museum shop, the services and the caretaker’s apartment. In the adjoining building, to the west, a new restaurant has been planned. The original shape of the mono-pitched roof has been retained, sitting on the perimeter wall, enabling the space under the roof to be converted into a large space for temporary exhibitions. In what is known as the White Tower a steel structure has been suspended from the roof beams, with the illustration on numerous levels of the history of Castel Firmiano. The exhibition route of the museum begins in the north tower and leads, through the north courtyard and the stone theatre, to the four-storey palace, integrated in the eastern perimeter wall. Above this, towering on a rocky ledge is the inaccessible and older nucleus of the stronghold, with remains of the Roman chapel. On heavy blocks of porfido stone of the eastern perimeter wall runs a walkway in red rusted steel, that reveals from up high the view of the valley and the surrounding mountains. A transparent mesh in expanded metal that, if seen from afar seems to dissolve against the blue of the sky, sits and supports the visitor.

In the cylindrical south towers, metal structures have been suspended, detached from the outer walls. The wax-polished steel stands out before the light that skims the stone walls. At the end of the museum route, a well dug into the rock connects the southern courtyard of the castle and the entrance tower, the starting point for the visitors' route. The masterly architectural salvaging of the ruins of the castle may perhaps contribute to opening up once more this important access to contemporary history.

Castel Firmiano restoration and Mountain Museum
Design: Werner Tscholl
Client: Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano
Realization: 2003 – 2006