Museo Civico e Museo Multscher

The Civic Museum and Multscher Museum occupy the east wing of the Deutschhaus, a former Teutonic Order hospice in Vipiteno. Their collections include surviving panels from Hans Multscher’s Sterzing Altar and objects documenting the town’s civic history.

Why it matters

Commissioned for the parish church of Our Lady of the Marsh, the Sterzing Altar was created by Multscher and his workshop between 1456 and 1459. Its surviving panels preserve scenes from the life of Mary and the Passion. Alongside them, the Civic Museum presents charters, guild holdings, historic measures and portraits that reflect Vipiteno’s history as a trading town.

What to notice

The painted inner faces of the altar wings show Marian scenes, while the outer faces depict the Passion. Statues of Saint George and Saint Florian with cloth-bearing angels also belong to the altar ensemble. The Deutschhaus rooms include paintings in the Rittersaal and the Grafenzimmer, where ceiling decoration represents Teutonic Order commanderies. Civic displays include imperial charters, guild seals, chests, weights and measures.

Context and history

The altar remained in the parish church for more than three centuries before a Rococo altar replaced it in 1779–80. Its panels were restored in Munich. In 1940 the regime ordered their sale and they were handed to Hermann Göring; after the war they were held at the Uffizi and returned to Vipiteno in 1959. The Multscher Museum opened in 1986 and the Civic Museum in 1994. The Deutschhaus itself has a thirteenth-century core.