Reinhold Messner was born in 1944, and grew up amongst the peaks of the Italian Dolomites. He began climbing the local peaks at age 13, and by his early 20’s he was recognized as one of the best mountain climbers in Europe. He later went on to become the first person to make a solo ascent of Mount Everest, the first to climb Mount Everest without supplemental oxygen, the first to climb all 14 of the world’s summits over 8000 meters, and the first person to cross Antarctica without snowmobile or dog sled. He is universally recognized as one of the greatest mountaineers of all time.
Between 1995 and 2015, Messner created six museums based in six different locations throughout the Italian Dolomites. They were “designed to educate visitors on ‘man’s encounter with mountains’ and deal with the science of mountains and glaciers, the history of mountaineering and rock climbing, the history of mythical mountains, and the history of mountain-dwelling people.”
We visited the Firmian Museum, which is the centerpiece of the Messner Mountain Museum network. The museum is housed in a Late Middle Aged castle, called Sigmondskron Castle, and was opened in 2006 after a 3 year restoration of the ruined castle. Here’s a gallery of photos from our visit … enjoy!
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