Paintings, sculptures, cars, fossils, dolls. There are many museums. Their collections range from the most common, by type, to the most unusual pieces. Contextualized in the history of the place that hosts them, they are able to amaze us with their uniqueness. And this is certainly true of the Messner Museum of Monte Rite. Also known as the “museum in the clouds”, it towers over the Dolomites looking towards a panoramic setting.
The initiative
It is not the only cultural reality to be found at high altitude. The Messner Museum of Monte Rite is in fact part of a wider circuit. There are six locations which occupy different points of the Alps. Firmiano Castle, Juval Castle, Solda, Monte Rite Fort, Brunico Castle, Plan de Corones. Also known by the acronym of the triple M: Messner Mountain Museum or simply MMM. Each space tells us about an aspect of the mountain. The myth and the sacredness, the ice, the people, the history of mountaineering, the rock. A museum with a strong specificity that allows the visitor to create a more complete image of the imposing massifs. Like so many pieces of a puzzle that little by little return an overall design. The desire to tell and make known these "high places" can only come from those who are "children of the mountain".
The museum was created by the will of the well-known mountaineer Reinhold Messner which has a strong and special bond with the mountains. Born in 1944 in Val di Funes, his grandparents are all from the Dolomite region. Protagonist of numerous trips and climbs that have taken him very far from his roots. From the Andes, to Japan, to Alaska. An important path therefore that makes his words acquire strong value. “And yet I have never seen a rock world with more beautiful shapes than this: think, for example, of the Odle group, the Sassolungo and the overhanging north faces of the Tre Cime di Lavaredo. Even as a child I was amazed and amazed by so much variety. Unsurpassed impressions. My back in South Tyrol it is therefore also a declaration of love for the Dolomites. The Odle are the staple in my life as an adventurer ".
Messner Museum of Monte Rite
But what does the Museum of Monte Rite contain inside? Housed in the remains of the old fortifications built during the First World War, then restored, the museum has a varied collection. On one side a rich gallery of paintings, obviously themed! From Romanticism to the most contemporary productions, the mountain is the protagonist of the canvases. Works that dialogue with the environment, marking a singular rhythm that alternates representation with reality. Located at 2181 meters above sea level, the Museum of Monte Rite allows, through its windows, to see panoramas and peaks. If the paintings give the plausible image of what we can still observe today, the meaning given by another part of the collection is surprising.
They are i fossil of shells, palm ferns and many other finds dating back to time immemorial. The Triassic, that remote past dated 240 million years ago, in which a warm tropical sea lived here. The aim is therefore also to narrate the long life of the mountain, its birth, its transformation. Alongside all this there is the thirst for knowledge that has always characterized man. So here it is a grouping of objects and documents, those that tell us the history of mountaineering and exploration. Located in the heart of the The Dolomites the Monte Rite Museum is located in the Municipality of Cibiana di Cadore, in the province of Belluno. Its summit can be reached on foot following a walk of a couple of hours or alternatively by shuttle. Open from June to September, the museum in the clouds is certainly worth a visit to let yourself be carried away in the curiosities of an environment that is perhaps still little known.
