Tyrol Castle, less commonly Tirol Castle (german: Schloss Tirol, it, Castel Tirolo) is a castle in the ''

comune The (; plural: ) is a local administrative division of Italy, roughly equivalent to a township or municipality. It is the third-level administrative division of Italy, after regions ('' regioni'') and provinces (''province''). The can also ...

'' (municipality) of

Tirol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

near

Merano Merano (, , ) or Meran () is a city and '' comune'' in South Tyrol, northern Italy. Generally best known for its spa resorts, it is located within a basin, surrounded by mountains standing up to above sea level, at the entrance to the Passeie ...

, in the

Burggrafenamt The Burggrafenamt ( it, Burgraviato , german: Burggrafenamt) is a district ( it, comprensorio, german: Bezirksgemeinschaft) in the western part of the Italian province of South Tyrol. It comprises the part of the Adige river valley between Naturns ...

district of

South Tyrol it, Provincia Autonoma di Bolzano – Alto Adige lld, Provinzia Autonoma de Balsan/Bulsan – Südtirol , settlement_type = Autonomous province , image_skyline = , image_alt ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

. It was the ancestral seat of the Counts of Tyrol and gave the whole

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

region its name.

History

The castle hill has been inhabited since ancient times. Several artefacts and one field of graves from the early

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

have been identified.

Archeologist Archaeology or archeology is the scientific study of human activity through the recovery and analysis of material culture. The archaeological record consists of artifacts, architecture, biofacts or ecofacts, sites, and cultural landscapes ...

s have excavated a church with three

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

s dating from the early Christian period. The first castle was built before 1100. The second construction phase including the

keep A keep (from the Middle English ''kype'') is a type of fortified tower built within castles during the Middle Ages by European nobility. Scholars have debated the scope of the word ''keep'', but usually consider it to refer to large towers in c ...

dates to 1139/40. A third phase of construction took place in the second half of the 13th century under Count Meinhard II of Gorizia-Tyrol. In 1347 Meinhard's granddaughter Countess Margaret of Tyrol was besieged here by the forces of the

Luxembourg Luxembourg ( ; lb, Lëtzebuerg ; french: link=no, Luxembourg; german: link=no, Luxemburg), officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, ; french: link=no, Grand-Duché de Luxembourg ; german: link=no, Großherzogtum Luxemburg is a small lan ...

king Charles IV. The castle remained the seat of Tyrol's sovereigns until 1420, when the

Habsburg The House of Habsburg (), alternatively spelled Hapsburg in Englishgerman: Haus Habsburg, ; es, Casa de Habsburgo; hu, Habsburg család, it, Casa di Asburgo, nl, Huis van Habsburg, pl, dom Habsburgów, pt, Casa de Habsburgo, la, Domus Hab ...

archduke Frederick IV moved the administrative seat to

Innsbruck Innsbruck (; bar, Innschbruck, label=Austro-Bavarian ) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria. On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass to the south, it had a p ...

north of the

Brenner Pass The Brenner Pass (german: link=no, Brennerpass , shortly ; it, Passo del Brennero ) is a mountain pass through the Alps which forms the border between Italy and Austria. It is one of the principal passes of the Eastern Alpine range and has ...

. In modern times parts of the castle fell into the so-called ''"Köstengraben"'', a steep gorge. It was even sold in order to be used as a quarry. In the 19th century the castle was restored; the keep was rebuilt in 1904. Regarding art history, the

fresco Fresco (plural ''frescos'' or ''frescoes'') is a technique of mural painting executed upon freshly laid ("wet") lime plaster. Water is used as the vehicle for the dry-powder pigment to merge with the plaster, and with the setting of the plast ...

s of the castle's chapel are of special interest as well as two Romanesque portals with opulent

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorphose ...

sculptures showing

legendary creatures A legendary creature (also mythical or mythological creature) is a type of fictional entity, typically a hybrid, that has not been proven and that is described in folklore (including myths and legends), but may be featured in historical account ...

, religious themes, and geometric ornaments. The chapel also houses the oldest-known painting of the coat of arms of Tyrol, the Red Eagle. The castle has served as the site of a museum since the early 1980s. Since 2003, Tyrol Castle houses the . Next to the castle there is a

falconry Falconry is the hunting of wild animals in their natural state and habitat by means of a trained bird of prey. Small animals are hunted; squirrels and rabbits often fall prey to these birds. Two traditional terms are used to describe a person ...

with a nursing ward for birds of prey. File:Schloss Tirol 02.jpg , Exterior File:Tirol Schloss 03.jpg , Courtyard File:Tirol Schloss 04.jpg , Romanesque portal of the castle's chapel File:Tirol Schloss 05.jpg , Portal of the chapel, detail

References

External links

* {{Authority control Castles in South Tyrol Museums in South Tyrol Local museums in Italy Establishments in the Princely County of Tyrol

History

See also

References

External links