ECK Museum of Art (Museo Civico di Brunico)

The ECK Museum of Art preserves late-medieval works from the Puster Valley, including a vault keystone with an angel bust attributed to Michael Pacher, alongside modern and contemporary art.

Why it matters

The civic collection dates to 1912 and includes works from the estate of town chronicler Johann Nepomuk Tinkhauser. This local collection links the museum’s story to Brunico’s cultural history.

What to notice

• The keystone with an angel bust from the church of Issengo, a fresco on terracotta dated around 1459 and attributed to Michael Pacher, the great painter-sculptor of fifteenth-century Tyrol.
• The late Gothic winged altarpiece associated with Simon and Veit of Taisten, known from the Castelbadia altar of around 1490, carved in Swiss stone pine.
• Works linked to Michael Pacher's circle and to the Baroque painter Paul Troger, another Puster Valley name.
• Modern presences in the collection, including graphics by Antoni Tàpies and works by South Tyrolean painter Karl Plattner.
• A basement print workshop with etching presses, lithographic stones and woodcut facilities.

Context and history

After an interval, the museum re-established itself in 1995 in a former coaching inn in Brunico’s town centre. It took the name ECK Museum of Art in 2023, with a focus that includes contemporary art and printmaking.