Messner Mountain Museum
In between climbing on Piz Badile and Cime Grande di Lavaredo, I had the chance to visit Bolzano, Italy. In addition to being home to Ötzli, the 5,000 year old mummified man found on a glacier near there, Bolzano is also home to Reinhold Messner’s newest museum. Called Messner Mountain Museum (MMM), Bolzano, this is his third of four proposed MMM’s. The other two are in Juval and the Dolomites and feature exhibits on mountain ecology and Dolomite climbing history respectively. The MMM, Bolzano is in the thousand year old ruins of a castle above the capital of South Tirol, Bolzano. This castle, Firmenzia, though not overly ornate and long since abandoned has been a symbol of and center for the South Tyrollean autonomy movement for the last century. It is a very interesting place to visit in its own right. The Frimenzia Castle houses a rather eclectic collection of art and climbing artifacts that Reinhold has collected over his years of traveling the world and scaling the loftiest of summits.
The restoration and renovation of the castle has been done in a fairly dark and industrial type theme, which fits in quite well with the overall state of decay that the castle now exists in. Looking out from the many parapets, however, it is in stark contrast to the surrounding mountain splendor and the Alto Adige valley adorned as it is with seemingly endless orchards and vineyards. The contrast works quite well though as it adds to the austerity and seriousness of the mood that many of Messner’s visions have taken on. It has been tastefully done and the layout allows one to admire the many works of art while still appreciating the fact that one is in a thousand year old castle ruins.
Each building of the castle presents a different theme. Tyrollean autonomy in one, Tibetan Buddhist artifacts in another, the world’s best alpinists in another (I was psyched to see Farmboy’s photo there!) and a collection of art related to the classic peaks of the world in yet another.
Of particular interest to climbers is the collection of books and items from various legends in climbing like Heckmair’s rucksack used on the Eiger, Bonatti’s suit worn on K2 and and original copy of Whymper’s Scrambles In the Alps. There are numerous paintings and fine art photographs of famous peaks. Some of the paintings are historic, some are modern and abstract. There is even a bizarre multimedia exhibit of a scale model of the Mont Blanc Massif turned onto its side with some recorded commentary coming out of a functioning model of the human heart located underneath the mountain. In the stairway up the tower of galleries housing the world’s greatest alpinists art and artifacts is a fine picture of Steve House next to his buddy Tomaz Humar presumably to honor the current generation of great alpinists. There are a few cheesy, department store type mannequins adorned with the clothes worn by certain climbers on particularly famous climbs. Perhaps the oddest one is that depicting Thomas Huber in the clothes he wore when he soloed the Cime Grade di Lavaredo: a cotton T-shirt and some short pants, not very “alpine” looking, but honest. Even more bizarre is the the curios contained in dozens of glass jars on the ground level. I was hoping that perhaps they would contain the preserved amputated digits of possibly Herzog or Messner, but they did not have anything quite that macarbe. The contents of these jars are listed on labels with the names of the previous owner and the climb it was used on. Interestingly enough was one labeled: Tomaz Humar, South Face, Nanga Parbat, 2005! Ha!
Throughout the grounds can be found various quotes, mostly in German, by various outspoken alpinists and philosophers that Messner has found to be poignant or relevant to his views regarding alpinism. These are often almost hidden, appearing on the steel beams of the stairways and hallways or sometimes, more noticeable on plaques below particular works of art. I wished that I understood German and could have been able to read more of them.
In the open grounds there are many large sculptures, mostly from Tibet, that he has managed to bring back to Italy over the years. There is a 25 foot tall colorful head of Buddha on one wall and various (nearly) life sized figurines. There is a very pleasant cafe and vinothek (wine bar) where one can take a break and ponder the findings while sipping on a glass of some of the local South Tyrollean wine. It was not very crowded when I went there and was a nice place to just hang out as much as anything else. Oh yeah, Reinhold was not there that day.
Interestedly enough, other than the one picture of Steve and a small bit of Warren Harding’s equipment from climbing El Cap, I saw no mention of any other North American climbers or even of any North American mountains.
Earlier that day, I visited Bolzano’s other museum of interest to mountain climbers (there are plenty of other more traditional museums to visit, as well), the regions Archaeological Museum, which is home to Ötzli, aka the Ice Man. He was found in the early 90’s on a glacier not far from Bolzano near the Austrian border. His 5,000 year old remains were very well persevered and mummified by being entombed in the glacial ice for all that time. Although, viewing the body itself was not terribly exciting, looking at the items he had with him and learning about his way of life for people living at that time was quite interesting. Though crude, his clothes, shoes and pack and other items were surprisingly well thought out and well designed for surviving in the mountains. Much of it was not all that different from what is used today and really not that heavy. Ötzli had the right philosophy way back then: light and fast. His choice was by necessity, however. He had very basic leggings and shirt made from light animal skins, a fur hat and some leather shoes. He carried a couple of birch bark buckets, one of which he kept some smoldering embers in so that he could easily make a fire. He also carried a variety of small tools, implements and twine for creating and repairing all manner of things. One crazy thing that the scientists have recently figured out is that he died not from exposure up on the cold slopes of the high glacier environment, but from a wound to the shoulder likely inflicted by an adversary. Perhaps he was hiking up high to get away from whomever had attacked him and that is where he finally succumbed to his injury and died. It is a pretty amazing piece of history and also well worth the visit to the area.
