Galleria Hofburg

Beside the prince-bishops' palace, a family art business works a craft lineage back to 1895: sculptures, paintings and nativity figures gathered in ateliers that double as a meeting place for artists and collectors in Bressanone's old episcopal quarter.

Why it matters

Bressanone's art scene extends past its diocesan museums, and the Galleria Hofburg is the clearest example. Operating under the name for decades and now led by sculptor and art dealer Jakob Kompatscher — great-grandson of the founder of one of the city's oldest bookbinderies — the gallery keeps a family tradition of art trading that the business dates to 1895. The regional tourism board describes its two ateliers as exhibition venues and meeting places for artists and art lovers.

What to notice

The programme leans Tyrolean and Alpine: carved wooden sculpture, nativity figures including Neapolitan-style groups, and paintings and sculptures by artists from the region and beyond, including Angela Tripi, Adriano Colombo and Leo Demetz. The gallery combines traditional craft with contemporary taste.

Context and history

The gallery grew out of the Kompatscher family's bookbinding and art trade in Bressanone; the founder's namesake great-grandson, whose father was the master bookbinder Walter Kompatscher (1934–2016), has devoted himself to art for decades. Formerly trading as Galerie Hofburg, the business carries the palace's name from its position in the Hofburg quarter, at the edge of the prince-biscopal complex that gives the address its grandeur.