Piazza del Municipio (Rathausplatz)

Brunico's largest modern public square is also its most literal reinvention: the Rathausplatz was built in 2003 where the town's bus station and prison once stood. It carries art inscribed with a local poet's words and a sundial designed around the shadow of a person standing in the square.

Why it matters

The square gave twentieth-century Brunico the civic centre its historic streets never had. Laid out in 2003 on the site of the former bus station and prison, it brought a civic square beside the town hall. The square became a civic gathering place and setting for cultural performances.

What to notice

Two artworks define the square. Slanted steles by Paul Feichter carry inscriptions drawn from texts by Norbert C. Kaser. Near the town hall, a ground-level sundial by Luis Seiwald uses a person as its gnomon. Both works make the square an open gallery rather than a passage.

Context and history

The square's creation in 2003 removed the bus station and the prison from the heart of town in a single redesign, replacing bounded, closed institutions with an open civic floor beside the municipal offices. Later work refreshed its surfaces and reinforced its role as Brunico's principal civic gathering place.