Trauttmansdorff Castle is located in northern Italy and has been owned by the Trauttmansdorff family for roughly 500 years. The castle and gardens are of many different architectural styles as construction happened prior to the 1300s, in the 1500s and the 1800s. The castle is currently serving as a tourist location and home to a tourism museum.

Castle location

Trauttmansdorff Castle is a castle located south of the city of

Merano Merano (, ; ) or Meran () is a (municipality) in South Tyrol, Northern Italy. Generally best known for its Spa town, spa resorts, it is located within a Depression (geology), basin, surrounded by mountains standing up to Height above mean sea ...

South Tyrol South Tyrol ( , ; ; ), officially the Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol, is an autonomous administrative division, autonomous provinces of Italy, province in northern Italy. Together with Trentino, South Tyrol forms the autonomo ...

, northern Italy. To the east the castle is protected by dense forest and steep terrain. To the north, south, and west the castle is fortified by terrain and original fortification walls (from the original Neuburg Fortress built in the 14th century). The castle is adorned with gardens to the north and south.

Castle history

The site of the castle was previously home to the Neuburg Fortress (built prior to the 1300s). The property was bought in the early 1500s by Nikolaus von Trauttmansdorff. Additionally, since 1543, the castle and gardens were owned by the House of Trauttamansdorff, one of the oldest and most distinguished

Austrian noble families Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian Austrian nationality law, citizen * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ** ...

. The castle was abandoned in the early 1700s by the family and was later bought back (in a state of near-disrepair "half-ruined") and renovated to its current state in 1846 by Count Josef von Trauttmansdorff. During the years of

fascist Italy Fascist Italy () is a term which is used in historiography to describe the Kingdom of Italy between 1922 and 1943, when Benito Mussolini and the National Fascist Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictatorship. Th ...

the castle was called ''di Nova Castle'' (''Torrente Nova'' is the name of a little

brook Brook may refer to: Computing *Brook, a programming language for GPU programming based on C *Brook+, an explicit data-parallel C compiler *BrookGPU, a framework for GPGPU programming People * Brook (surname) *People with the given name Brook, ...

near Trauttmansdorff).

Castle architecture

When the castle was rebuilt in 1846, Count Josef von Trauttmansdorff opted to enlarge the building. However, due to the combination of new and old buildings on the side there is a mix of mostly three periods, first

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, a Germanic people **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Gothic alphabet, an alphabet used to write the Gothic language ** Gothic ( ...

, secondly Romanesque, and finally

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

. A key feature of Romanesque architecture is the repetition of design/building elements; this can be seen in the repetition and placement of windows seen on the facade of the castle. Secondly, the variety of windows along with the contrast of roofs and overlooks/fortifications in place of roofs align with Romanesque architecture as variety and contrast is a typical factor in Romanesque architecture. The interior hall in the castle is decorated with a Baroque ceiling mural surrounded by layers of molding and marble pilasters. Other rooms within the castle (such as the imperial rooms) have Romanesque/Gothic interior windows, this is shown by the mix of rounded and pointed arch shaped windows.

Current affairs at the castle

The castle and grounds are now a tourism site and home to the Touriseum, a museum of tourism. Additionally, since 2001 the surrounding grounds have been open as the

Trauttmansdorff Castle Gardens The Gardens of Trauttmansdorff Castle (; ) are botanical gardens located on the grounds of Trauttmansdorff Castle in Meran, Italy. The gardens are open daily in the warmer months; an admission fee is charged. History The gardens were initially l ...

, a

botanical garden A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens. is ...

References

External links

{{Authority control Castles in South Tyrol Merano Tourism museums