Sigmundskron Castle

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Sigmundskron Castle
Sigmundskron Castle

Sigmundskron Castle

Alternative name (s): originally Formicaria
ital . : Castel Firmiano
Creation time : before 945
Castle type : Fortress
Conservation status: ruin
Place: Bolzano
Geographical location 46 ° 28 ′ 49 ″  N , 11 ° 18 ′ 19 ″  E Coordinates: 46 ° 28 ′ 49 ″  N , 11 ° 18 ′ 19 ″  E
Sigmundskron Castle (South Tyrol)
Sigmundskron Castle

Sigmundskron Castle (also Firmian , Castel Firmiano in Italian ) is an extensive castle and fortress complex near Bozen in South Tyrol . Today the ruin houses the fourth mountain museum of the South Tyrolean extreme mountaineer Reinhold Messner . On June 9, 2006 the MMM ( Messner Mountain Museum Firmian ) was opened in the late medieval fortress.

Geographical location

Sigmundskron is located on the northernmost foothills of the Mitterberg (also called Kaiserberg here ) in the Adige Valley on the southwest edge of the Bozen valley basin. Administratively, the castle is in the municipality of Bozen ; the closest settlement is Frangart , a fraction of Eppan . The Etsch and Eisack flow below the porphyry rock . The Meran – Bozen ( MeBo ) expressway runs through the rock under the castle in a tunnel.

history

The first historical mention under the name Formicaria (= anthill) (later Formigar ) comes from the year 945. In 1027 Emperor Konrad II handed the castle over to the Bishop of Trento . In the 12th and 13th centuries it was awarded to several ministerial families (Estrich, Hahn, Häring, Kastraun, Ripp and Zungel), who from then on called themselves from Firmian . To 1473, the Prince of purchased Tyrol , Duke Sigmund the Rich , the castle, renamed it Sigmundskron closed at (1474: " our slosz Sigmundskron ") and left them with Bering massively expand and corner towers, it that firearms could withstand. Only relatively small remains of the old Formigar Castle have survived, mostly on the highest point of the fortress grounds around the castle chapel of St. Blasius and Ulrich von Augsburg . Due to financial difficulties, Sigmund had to mortgage the castle soon after. As a result, the facility increasingly fell into disrepair.

At the end of the 18th century the castle belonged to the Counts of Wolkenstein , 1807 to 1870 to the Counts of Sarnthein , and then to 1994 to the Counts of Toggenburg . In 1976 the half-ruin was partially restored by a family of innkeepers and a restaurant opened. In 1996 the castle became the property of the South Tyrolean provincial administration. In spring 2003, after much discussion , Reinhold Messner received a license to use the facility for a long-planned mountain museum. Werner Tscholl took care of the architectural adaptation project .

During construction work in March 2006, a Neolithic grave was discovered in which skeletal remains of a woman were found. The age of the grave is estimated to be 6,000 to 7,000 years.

Sigmundskron as a symbol of the drive for autonomy

The fortress is an important political symbol of the South Tyrol: On 17 November 1957 took place under the leadership of here Silvius Magnago the mass rally of Sigmundskron instead. Over 30,000 South Tyroleans gathered in the castle complex to protest against non-compliance with the Paris Agreement and to demand extensive autonomy for South Tyrol (“Los von Trento”).

photos

  • Sigmundskron, view from the south-west

  • Entrance gate

  • Wall, east side, tour to the south

  • Wall, east side, in the background Bolzano

  • Courtyard in the entrance area with farm building and so-called "White Tower"

  • The so-called "Fischerkuchel" south of the Adige Bridge below Sigmundskron

literature

  • Leo Andergassen , Helmut Stampfer : Sigmundskron Castle: Bishop's Castle and sovereign bulwark (=  castles . Band 11 ). Schnell and Steiner, Regensburg 2014, ISBN 978-3-7954-2608-8 .
  • Walter Landi, Wilfried Beimrohr, Martha Fingernagel-Grüll: Sigmundskron . In: Magdalena Hörmann-Weingartner (Ed.): Tiroler Burgenbuch. Volume 10: Überetsch and South Tyrolean Unterland . Athesia Publishing House, Bozen 2011, ISBN 978-88-8266-780-1 , pp. 223-266.
  • Viktor Malfèr: Sigmundskron Castle . Ferrari-Auer, Bozen 1985 (3rd edition)
  • Helmut Stampfer: The old castle chapel of Sigmundskron: in memoriam Nicolò Rasmo († 1986) . In: Arx , 10, 1988, pp. 319-323
  • Werner Tscholl : Revitalization of Sigmundskron: from a giant fortress to a mountain museum . In: Arx , 32, 2010, pp. 3-6
  • Josef Weingartner : Sigmundskron. In: Der Schlern 1922, pp. 377–386. (on-line)

Web links

Commons : Sigmundskron Castle  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Liutprandi antapodis V , ch. 26, ed. by A. Bauer and R. Rau, in: Selected sources on the German history of the Middle Ages , Bd. 8, Darmstadt: Wiss. Book Society, 1971, p. 474.
  2. ↑ Martin Bitschnau : Burg und Adel in Tirol between 1050 and 1350. Basics for their research (meeting reports ÖAW, 403). Vienna 1983, p. 213f. No. 191.
  3. ^ Hannes Obermair : Written form and documented tradition of the city of Bozen up to 1500 . In: Bozen Süd - Bolzano Nord . tape 2 . Bolzano 2008, ISBN 978-88-901870-1-8 , pp. 156 No. 1151 ( PDF 9.6 MB ).
  4. ↑ Margareth Lun: The day of Sigmundskron: a rally makes history - November 17, 1957 , Bozen 2007 (with photo documentation).