The medieval complex of Juval Castle, one of the first Reinhold Messner museums, stands above the narrow Schnalstal Valley gorge near Naturno and was built by Hugo von Montalban around 1278 on a prehistoric settlement site. Since 1983 it has been owned by the extreme mountaineer Reinhold Messner and is today the seat of one of the six Messner Mountain Museums, all of which have dedicated themselves to a different theme.
The permanent exhibition in Juval Castle is dedicated to the myth of the mountain. Here visitors will find an impressive collection of tibetica, various masks from five continents, an extensive adventure library, the unique exposition on Gesar Ling, as well as Renaissance frescoes.
Reinhold Messner's expedition cellar and an exhibition of pictures of the sacred mountains of the world are also part of the varied exhibition. Trained personnel accompany visitors through the various rooms of the castle and bring the stories of the individual exhibits closer.
In addition to the Reinhold Messner Museum with all the exhibitions in the castle, there is a small mountain animal park on the castle hill, the Schlosswirt inn offers farm products, the Unterortl winery produces excellent wines and at the foot of the mountain can be bought local products in the Vinschger Bauernladen (=farm shop).
Reinhold Messner
The extreme mountaineer, book author and ex-politician was born in 1944 and has made more than 100 expeditions to mountains and deserts all over the world since 1969. He has achieved many first ascents - including the crossing of Antarctica, the Gobi and Takla Makan deserts and the longitudinal crossing of Greenland. In recent years Reinhold Messner has dedicated himself to the foundation of various museums in South Tyrol and to cultural and political activities.