Tyrolean Folk Art Museum

The Tyrolean Folk Art Museum is a museum in Innsbruck, Austria, that showcases the cultural heritage of the Tyrol region. It is located next to the Hofkirche and across from the Hofburg in the Altstadt section of the city. The museum contains a collection of traditional costumes, handicrafts, furniture, paintings, nativity scenes, and carnival masks. It also features 14 wood-panelled parlours from different historical periods and regions of Tyrol. The museum is considered one of the finest regional heritage museums in Europe.

Some additional information that you might find interesting are:

The museum was founded in 1929 by the Tyrolean Folklore Society and moved to its current location in 1974.
The museum is part of the Tyrolean State Museums, which also include the Court Church, the Armoury, the Ferdinandeum, and the Zeughaus.
The museum offers guided tours, workshops, and special exhibitions on various aspects of Tyrolean folk art and culture.
The museum is open daily from 9:00 am to 5:00 pm and the admission fee is 11 euros for adults and 5.50 euros for children and students. You can also get a combined ticket for all the Tyrolean State Museums for 19 euros.

The Collections

The museum’s collections span a wide range of topics and periods, reflecting the complex and varied history of the Tyrolean region. The medieval county of Tyrol, which the museum focuses on, included not only today’s federal state of Tyrol, but also South Tyrol, Trentino, and the Ladin valleys around the Dolomites, which are now part of the Italian province of Belluno. The museum still acquires objects from this region, as well as from other parts of Austria and neighboring countries.

The majority of the collections were purchased before the First World War, when the museum was founded as a branch of the Tyrolean State Museum Ferdinandeum. Some objects from the Ferdinandeum were also exchanged in the 1930s. The museum is one of the five residences of the Tyrolean State Museums, which also include the Ferdinandeum, the Zeughaus, the Tirol Panorama, and the Court Church.

The artifacts on display originate mostly from the rural, bourgeois, and aristocratic classes of Tyrolean society. They include handicrafts, arts and crafts, household industry, popular piety, and traditions (masks and costumes). The museum is especially famous for its huge collection of Christmas and Easter cribs, which are elaborate scenes depicting the nativity and the passion of Christ. The museum also features several chambers, most of which come from aristocratic backgrounds, that illustrate the living and working environments of different social groups.

The Exhibition

The museum’s exhibition was redesigned and reopened in 2009, based on a new concept that aimed to present the collections in a more engaging and interactive way. Visitors can now access information about certain objects via personal digital assistants, which provide audio and visual explanations. The exhibition also features Lucifer, the bright figure from the St. Nicholas play, who acts as a questioning provocateur who opens up new perspectives on the objects and their meanings.

The exhibition is divided into four main sections, each with a different theme and focus. The first section, called Pralles Jahr (Full Year), is located on the first floor above the cloister. It depicts a year-long cycle of church festivals, folk traditions, festivities, and labor. It shows how the Tyrolean people celebrated and marked the seasons, the religious events, and the social occasions throughout the year. It also shows how they worked and produced various goods and services, such as agriculture, crafts, trade, and mining.

The second section, called Precarious Life, is located on the second floor. It portrays how older cultures dealt with life’s misery, hardships, and worries, as well as how they coped with daily existence via blessings and magic, pleas, and gratitude. It explores the themes of birth, death, illness, poverty, war, and natural disasters, and how the Tyrolean people sought protection and relief from various sources, such as saints, relics, amulets, and prayers. It also displays a special research collection that focuses on domestic industry, labor, possessions, and inheritance.

The third section, called Being and Appearance, is also located on the second floor. It presents a historically restored picture studio that recounts the romantic transformation of peasant costumes. It shows how the Tyrolean people expressed their identity and status through their clothing and accessories, and how they adapted to changing fashion trends and social norms. It also features 48 hand-carved miniatures that shed light on the idealization of clothing that was already being discarded in ordinary life around 1900.

The fourth section, called Hofkirche and Folk Art, is located on the ground floor. It deals with the Hofkirche, which is adjacent to the museum, and the historical and artistic connections between the two buildings. The Hofkirche, or Court Church, is a Gothic church that was built in the 16th century by Emperor Maximilian I as his intended burial place. It houses the famous cenotaph of the emperor, surrounded by 28 bronze statues of his ancestors and relatives, as well as a silver reliquary of his grandfather, Emperor Frederick III. The museum’s section explains the history and significance of the Hofkirche, and displays some of its treasures, such as paintings, sculptures, and liturgical objects. It also shows how the museum and the church were linked by a former passage from the monastery to the church’s rood screen, which united the two buildings in terms of content.

The ground floor, like in the past, is also mostly dedicated to cribs. The museum boasts one of the largest and most diverse collections of cribs in Europe, with over 60 cribs from different regions, periods, and styles. The cribs range from simple and rustic to elaborate and ornate, and from realistic and naturalistic to symbolic and abstract. They represent the artistic and religious expressions of the Tyrolean people, as well as their cultural and social influences.

Innsbruck, Austria