Castelli Del Tirolo: Guida all' Abbazia Di Novacella 🇮🇹 Italia

The Abbey of Novacella was founded by the Blessed Artman, Bishop of Bressanone, in 1142, a few kilometers from its Episcopal seat. Since then it has continued to prosper, with only the brief interruption due to the suppression by the Bavarian government, an ally of Napoleon, at the beginning of the 18th century. Of this intense religious life, there are testimonies partly made in the Middle Ages, partly due to enlargements and transformations of subsequent eras. The high concept that the regular canonicals, at the end of the 19th century, nourished towards their Abbey, is well understood in the paintings of the so-called Well of Wonders, octagonal in shape. Next to the seven masterpieces considered the wonders of the ancient world, the Abbey of Novacella is placed on the eighth side. The imposing bell tower, built towards the end of the 12th century, overlooks the entrance of the Abbey Church, whose tripartite nave rises at the same time. The interior, on the other hand, immediately takes us to another artistic world, in the Rococo of Svevo and Tyrol prints. In fact, they were called by Hinsbrook, the sculptor Anton Jigel, and by Augusta, the painter Matthäus Gunther. The decorations link the Roman naves to the late Gothic presbytery in a single environment with a festive tripod of colors. Among the altar poles is the one of Joseph Ignatz Mühldorfer on the major altar, which represents the Assumption of the Virgin. To the south of the Abbey Church extends the cloister, already a functional center of the most ancient nucleus of the convent, and today an oasis of silence. From the arches that open towards the green space, one enjoys the best view of the Abbey Church. The murals, discovered only in the 19th century, cover a time arc that goes from the mid-thirties to the early fifties. Not linked to a unitary iconographic program, they represent several reasons chosen by the individual committees, including some famous martyrdoms. Several tombstones of noble abbots have been inserted into the wall. Sculpted with masterpieces and partially polychromatic, they display a remarkable historical and artistic interest. From the south side of the cloister one accesses the museum of the Abbey. Of great value are above all the paintings on the table and the altars with late Gothic doors, coming almost exclusively from the Abbey Church, which at the end of the Middle Ages was particularly endowed with them. The tour ends with a visit to the library, which constitutes another key point of the Abbey, no less important than the Church. The splendid two-story room, designed by Giuseppe Sartori and decorated with elegant golden stucco by Johann Mussach, marks the passage from the last phase of the Rococo to the first Classicism, 1772. More than 96,000 volumes, laid out in a uniform manner, which deal with all the fields of the time, are kept in the original carved closets. Returning to the entrance, one passes next to the Chapel of San Michele, a singular two-story building on a central plan, consecrated at the end of the twelfth century. Originally it was part of a hospital complex distinct from the Abbey, while at the end of the fourteenth century it was incorporated into the new defensive system of the Abbey.