The escape routes of Michael G.


Over the mountains - for the sake of freedom - 1525/26 to the present day.

Opening at Museum Burg Heinfels:
Friday, 23/05/2025, 7.00 p.m.

Opening at LUMEN. Museum of Mountain Photography:
Saturday, 24/05/2025, 11.00 a.m.



Duration of the exhibitions: 26.10.2025

If freedom and equal rights of cultural or religious minorities are threatened by political power, fleeing over the mountains to a safer region or into the mountains as a “natural exile” has been a common way out throughout history. This has not changed in the last 500 years until today's digital age.

The historical escape routes of Michael Gaismair and his army in 1525/26 as well as more recent escape routes from the 20th/21st century, which are shown in the exhibition in the form of pictures and photographs, are geographically divided into two presentation locations to the west and east of Bruneck: in the LUMEN. Museum for Mountain Photography at Kronplatz focuses on Graubünden/Gadertal/Padua and Karwendel/Pyrenees/Western Alps, while at Heinfels Castle the focus is on Zillertal/Salzburg/East Tyrol and Krimmler Tauern/Strandzha Mountains/Kurdistan.

 

2_Pfitscher Joch, 1901_Slg. Richard PIock TAP

Pfitscher Joch, 1901, Richard Piock Collection, TAP

Curators of the exhibition:
Dr. Richard Piock, President of the association Tiroler Photoarchiv TAP
Dr. Martin Kofler, Director at Tiroler Photoarchiv TAP

Partners:
Tiroler Archiv für photographische Dokumentation und Kunst (TAP)
LUMEN. Museum of Mountain Photography

 

With the kind support of

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The current situation also has Heinfels Castle firmly under control. Construction work has resumed after the obligatory break and we are continuing to work flat out to complete the museum.

Three years ago the elaborate work on the largest profane restoration project in Tyrol began. All the roofs of the castle, with the exception of the tower from 1992, have now been newly roofed and the access paths inside the complex have already been paved. The opening of the museum is planned for early summer 2020

From May 2018 to the end of October 2019, more than 2800 visitors gained insights into one of the most exciting construction sites in the region.

It was a special day for the "Queen of the Puster Valley": On the 12th of July the guardian angel bell was cast in the bell foundry Grassmayr in Innsbruck. This is a continuation of the old tradition of bells in the castle.

During the restoration work, a special red chalk drawing from the early 16th century was uncovered. But this is not the only discovery!

Heinfels Castle’s main redevelopment should be complete and open once again to the general public within five years. An ambitious goal if you were to take a peek inside the imposing castle, as the last centuries haven’t been kind to the halls and chambers, leaving them to dilapidate.

On 16 November 2015, the concept regarding the future use of Heinfels Castle was presented to the district councils of the Tyrolean Oberland. If everything goes according o plan, the main redevelopment can take place during summer 2016.

The Südtiroler Burgeninstitut (the South Tyrolean Castle Institute) invited Management of the Museumsverein and the Steering Group to visit a number of castles in and around South Tyrol on 14 July 2015.

On 2 June 2015, the members of the ‘New Uses’ and ‘Redevelopment and Maintenance’ groups were met by gorgeous weather as they set out to visit the border fortress of Altfinstermünz in Nauders at the foot of the Finstermünzpass.