Museum history

From granary to MIK Chapter Museum

The older, eastern part of the building in which the museum is housed dates back to the 10th century. The granary was located on the ground floor and the cheese, egg and meat store on the upper floor. The western part was built in 1382 as a chapter house (the year is engraved on the west façade). On the ground floor were the storerooms, on the upper floor the chapter house, the parlour for Latin lessons and the librarian's study/parlour. The east and west buildings have different floor levels. Due to several floods, the terrain has risen by over a metre over the course of around 400 years.

Granary and chapter house

The older, eastern part of the building in which the museum is housed dates back to the 10th century. The granary was located on the ground floor and the cheese, egg and meat store on the upper floor. The western part was built in 1382 as a chapter house (the year is engraved on the west façade). On the ground floor were the storerooms, on the upper floor the chapter house, the parlour for Latin lessons and the librarian's study/parlour.
The east and west buildings have different floor levels. Due to several floods, the terrain has risen by over a metre over the course of around 400 years.

40 years of the Chapter Museum

The MIK was founded in 1983 as the San Candido Chapter Museum by San Candido historian Egon Kühebacher on behalf of the then provost and parish priest of San Candido, Hans Huber. The San Candido Chapter Museum celebrated its anniversary on 10 June 2023.

Extract from the San Candido magazine Der Innichner, No. 114, June 2023:

[...] Back then, Egon Kühebacher achieved one thing above all: He ensured that the valuable heritage remains in San Candido, that it is given an appropriate place in a museum, visible and accessible to all, in San Candido and for San Candido. Because what has been created here over time and has been preserved to this day is special. It goes back a long way and is connected with the location, the geographical situation. [...] San Candido is not located on the main transport arteries, but is well connected, as evidenced by the letters of indulgence written by bishops from all over Europe between 1284 and 1287: Chur, Prague, Bamberg, Olmütz, Salzburg [...] And of course Freising.

[...] It was this interplay of internationality and seclusion, San Candido as a free island in Tyrol, that determined the development of the town and was also fertile ground for the transfer of knowledge [...]
A big thank you is due to Egon Kühebacher and all those who have supported him, his wife Mariedl, Margaret and Willy Niederwolfsgruber, Bernhard Lösch and all the other many volunteers who have lovingly looked after and cared for the cathedral treasure year after year.
Hans Heiss, keynote speaker at the anniversary celebrations, emphasised the cultural significance of San Candido. In particular, he emphasised the role of the museum, describing it as a "jewel with a future" (see San Candido magazine Innichner, No. 115, October 2023).

Excerpt from the ceremonial address of Hans Heiss:

[...] The museum provides knowledgeable and attentive visitors with four focal points that leave a lasting impression. Firstly: Historical depth, as the span of the arc from pre-Roman times to the more recent past is apparent from the moment you enter the building. With powerful companions such as Atto, Otto, Peter and Joseph, the Big Four, who lined its path from the foundation of the monastery until its temporary dissolution. [...]

Secondly, the church, firstly the role of the ecclesiastical institution, but above all the profound effect of a popular piety that used to permeate and emphatically characterise people's lives and everyday lives. The reliquaries, crosses, paraments and votive offerings, but above all the images of the perennial nativity scene, are impressive testimonies to the message of salvation, the connection to transcendence and the hope of redemption. [...]

However, as people not only live from a spiritual search for meaning and the expectation of salvation, the new focus of tithes and grains on the ground floor is all the more successful. Because food is the third focus of the museum. The value of grain as the central basis of life is clear, as grain made up a large part of the diet. [...] In addition, grain was an important tax for the authorities. [...] Here in the granary, rye, wheat and oats gain direct visualisation of their importance for the hinterland. But they also point beyond this, because today, as a consequence of the Ukraine war, we in the global North once more recognise the role of grain in feeding the world.
In addition to direct nourishment, the museum is also dedicated to the intellectual nourishment that comes from education and books. Its fourth focus is education: No later than from the High Middle Ages, the position of the monastery as an educational centre in Alta Pusteria was outstanding, and the book treasures collected here are unique in the Tyrolean region in terms of value and context. [...]
And this is what makes this museum so special, its unique position in the rich South Tyrolean museum landscape. Architecture and collections, form and content are closely intertwined. Form as granary and chapter house, as a container for spiritual and physical nourishment alike[...]
This is why the museum's new abbreviation, MiK, developed by Hansjörg Plattner and his board of directors, makes so much sense, as it stands for "Museum im Kapitel” [Museum in the Chapter] or “Museum im Kornkasten” [Museum in the Granary] [...]

Opening hours

June - September,
Tue-Sat, 2-7 pm

MIK - Chapter Museum

Via Atto, 2
I-39038 San Candido/Innichen (BZ)
Tel. +39 0471 972912
info@mik.bz.it

Guided Tours

on saturdays

Entrance: 5 Euro,
children up to 14 years free

Plan your visit

MIK - CHAPTER MUSEUM

Via Atto, 2
I-39038 San Candido (BZ)
Phone +39 0471 972912
info@mik.bz.it
UID 01733530214

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