Messner Mountain Museum Ripa

Brunico | historic centre

The MMM Ripa at Brunico Castle, once the summer residence of prince-bishops, is dedicated to mountain peoples from all over the world - Asia, Africa, South America and Europe - as well as their culture, religion and tourism. "Ripa" in Tibetan means "mountain man": an appropriate name for this museum dedicated to the heritage of the mountains and the cultures of the peoples who inhabit them.

Modern mountaineering was born 250 years ago, but man has inhabited and frequented the mountain ranges for more than 10,000 years. At first they went there to hunt, then to lead herds and flocks from pasture to pasture, then settled there to work the land and raise livestock. Having settled between valley bottoms and summer pastures, the mountain peoples were able to develop their own art of survival, a culture that, in contrast to urban culture, is based on personal responsibility, the renunciation of consumption, and mutual aid. It is to this way of life, which only to the superficial observer may appear different from place to place, that Reinhold Messner dedicates the MMM Ripa museum.