Bishop’s Palace Brixen

The crib collection

Around 1800, the prince bishop Karl Franz Lodron commissioned two large cribs depicting the story of Christ and the Redemption, one for the bishop’s chapel and one for his living quarters. Both cribs illustrate numerous scenes based on evangelical stories. Franz Xaver Nissl, Augustin Alois and Josef Benedikt Probst were commissioned as wood carvers. Probst’s crib contains more than five thousand miniature figurines, all recounting the story of Christ, beginning with the Nativity and continuing to the Passion at the Cross. Nissl’s crib, depicting episodes of Christmas and the Passion, was put on display during Lent Sundays in the bishop’s chapel. Other cribs from Brixen, Tyrol, Naples and Sicily enrich this section of the museum.

Art of the Middle Ages

The collections of the Hofburg preserve precious examples of sculptures and paintings from the Medieval period as well as from the Baroque, Romantic and Classical periods. The most emblematic works, however, are the Madonnas and the Crucifixes of the late Romanesque period, the wood sculptures and the paintings by Tyrolean artists of the Middle Ages.

Areas

[Art of the Middle Ages](https://my.matterport.com/show/?play=1&sr=-1.54,1.52&ss=392&m=EULc8CYQ9XZ) [Art of the Baroque](https://my.matterport.com/show/?play=1&sr=-.43,-1.49&ss=206&m=EULc8CYQ9XZ) [Art of the Renaissance](https://my.matterport.com/show/?play=1&sr=-1.37,-1.38&ss=354&m=EULc8CYQ9XZ)

Dome treasure

Visit us and explore the dome treasure. [Continue tour](https://my.matterport.com/show/?play=1&sr=-.1,.07&ss=510&m=EULc8CYQ9XZ)

Bishop’s wing

Peter Fellin - Meditations

The exhibition in the Hofburg juxtaposes works by Peter Fellin with selected works from the collection of the Diocesan Museum.

Dome treasure

Visit us and explore the dome treasure. [Continue tour](https://my.matterport.com/show/?play=1&sr=-1.11,-1.4&ss=420&m=EULc8CYQ9XZ)

Baroque art

In the baroque era, altar statues by Adam Baldauf and oil paintings by Stefan Kessler, Ulrich Glantschnigg, Franz Sebald Unterberger and Paul Troger come to the fore.

Peter Fellin - Meditations

The exhibition in the Hofburg juxtaposes works by Peter Fellin with selected works from the collection of the Diocesan Museum.

Renaissance art

In the local art, the renaissance started rather slowly at the beginning of the 16th century. Examples of this are in the collection of the Diocesan Museum an Adoration of the Kings by Michael Parth, who came from Bavaria, and the panel paintings attributed to Sebastian Scheel with the miracle at the grave of St. Anthony and the Birth of Mary as well as the altar wings from the Bruneck Ursuline monastery painted by Vigil Raber from Sterzing.

19th and 20th century art

The extensive Siegfried Unterberger collection shows paintings by Tyrolean artists from the 19th century, including works by Franz von Defregger, Albin Egger-Lienz and Alexander Koester.

Madonna in 3D

Explore [here](https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/12th-century-maria-statue-from-hofburg-museum-a0b67ed7bafb435786ba62b545f8c84f) the 3D-Model

Fountain

Since November 2016, a contemporary fountain has adorned the inner courtyard of Brixen Hofburg Palace. The Val Badia artist Franz Kehrer carved the fountain from white Ratsching marble. Its shape is reminiscent of a calyx. It was important to the artist to harmonise the new with the old, the white fountain with the black Renaissance figures in the arcades.

INSIDE YARD

In 1595, under Prince-Bishop Cardinal Andreas of Austria, the complex underwent extensive architectural remodelling. The Innsbruck court architect Albrecht Lucchese planned a four-winged complex extending over three storeys, which was to be arranged around an inner courtyard with arcade arches on all four sides.A total of 44 terracotta sculptures were planned in the niches on the first floor, representing the Habsburg family tree of Cardinal Andreas of Austria. However, the elaborate concept remained unfinished: Today, only 24 of these figures can be found in the niches of the arcade pillars and a further eight in the passageway of the south wing. Nevertheless, the incomplete Habsburg cycle is one of the most important sculptural works in Tyrol from the transition from the Renaissance to the early Baroque period. It was not until 1711, under Prince-Bishop Kaspar Ignaz Graf Künigl, that the Hofburg was completed in its present appearance as a Renaissance and Baroque building.

Art books

Madonna

Elisab. Christine v. Braunschweig-Wolfenbüttel

(1691-1750)

Church

Special exhibition cellar

WC

Imperial Hall

Josef I. v. Habsburg

 (1678-1711)

Amalia Wilhelmine v. Braunschweig-Lüneburg

(1673-1742)

Maria Theresia v. Habsburg

(1717-1780)

Franz I. Stephan v. Lothringen

(1708-1765)

Karl VI v. Habsburg

(1685-1740)

Black bronze statues