Con spada e croce

"200 years of the Ferdinandeum, 2023" and "100 years of the Castello del Buonconsiglio Museum, 2024" form the framework for the joint exhibition project of the two museums, which presents two nationally significant, richly decorated tombs of the Lombard elite of the 7th century together for the first time:

One is the so-called "Prince's Tomb of Civezzano", which came to light by chance in 1885 on the occasion of agricultural work in "al Foss", was purchased by the then director of the Ferdinandeum Franz von Wieser in the antiquities trade in Bolzano and since then has not only been a core piece on the early medieval settlement of Tyrol in the Archaeological Display Collection, but is also one of the Ferdinandeum's treasures: The coffin with animal protomes and cross, reconstructed using the iron fittings, is unique.

And secondly - permanently on display as a counterpart in the Castello del Buonconsilio - the "Tomba della principessa", the "Tomb of the Princess" from the cemetery near Castel Telvana, also decorated with a gold-leaf cross and discovered in 1902 in Civezzano, with ear pendants in the Byzantine tradition - these are masterpieces of early medieval goldsmithing.
In both tombs, the brocade of the robes and the other furnishings bear witness to the high social status of the deceased.