Tirol Castle (German: Schloss Tirol, Italian: Castel Tirolo) is a castle in the municipality of Tirol near Meran, in the Burggrafenamt district of South Tyrol, Italy.
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Tyrol Castle is Tyrol’s most historically important castle. Its owners, the Counts of Vinschgau, who were also known as the Counts of Tyrol, represented the region that was named after them for almost a thousand years. The castle was constructed between 1138 and 1160. Around 1270, Meinhard II /read here/prevails against the bishops of Tyrol, and unites the area under his name. He levied duties and a toll on all goods that pass. This was very lucrative.
Schloss Tirol, Nordseite. Graphik von Carl Heyn, 1869.
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The castle’s archaeological museum gives a good overview of the first human settlements in the Alpine region beginning in the seventh century B.C. Visitors will be appreciate the smelting furnace, still completely intact, that dates back to the Bronze Age. The circular wall, built around 1100, is generally among the oldest castle walls in existence today. Marble portals from the twelfth century shine in ancient splendour. Sculptures rich in symbolism are among the most original creations of Romanesque art in Tyrol. The chapel, which has frescoes that date to the thirteenth century, houses the oldest Tyrolean glass painting and a massive fourteenth-century crucifixion group carved from wood.
Tirol Castle
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The decline of Tyrol Castle, which eventually only housed a castle attendant, chaplain and woodsman, began with the end of the 16th century. In the first half of the 17th century the entire northern side, where the royal suites were located, was removed – due to fears arising from the fragility of the moraine hill on which the castle stands. Eventually, in 1816 the city of Meran acquired the castle and subsequently gifted it to Emperor Franz I.
After the First World War the castle passed into the ownership of the Italian state and only changed hands again as a consequence of the Package Agreement in 1972. Today the regional government of the Autonomous Province has established its museum for culture and regional history there.
Text source
www.dorf-tirol.it
www.suedtirol.info
Photo source
www.marling.info
www.luxurytravelspots.com
www.de.wikipedia.org
Schloss Tirol, Nordseite. Graphik von Carl Heyn, 1869.
Tirol Castle
After the First World War the castle passed into the ownership of the Italian state and only changed hands again as a consequence of the Package Agreement in 1972. Today the regional government of the Autonomous Province has established its museum for culture and regional history there.
Text source
www.dorf-tirol.it
www.suedtirol.info
Photo source
www.marling.info
www.luxurytravelspots.com
www.de.wikipedia.org
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