Significant

From the famous Treasure of Loreto to the always changing special exhibits: Here a unique collection of art and centrepieces!

The art collection of the Museum of Klausen/Chiusa is located in the former Capuchin monastery. The entire first floor of the museum is dedicated to the famous Treasure of Loreto that forms the most important part of the museum. The Treasure of Loreto goes back to an endowment around 1700 by Queen Maria Anna of Spain (1667-1740) in response to a request by her confessor, Father Gabriel Pontifeser. At his request, the Queen had the Capuchin monastery built in Klausen and stocked with valuable gifts. Its name “Treasure of Loreto” owes the collection to the circumstance that it was originally kept in the Loreto Chapel. The Treasure’s paraments (altar cloths), religious objects, paintings and other pieces of art mostly come from the workshops of Spanish and Italian artists of the 16th and 17th century. One of the showpieces of the collection is the field altar of King Charles II.

Another key aspect of our permanent exhibition is the Klausner Art Colony (1874-1914). Klausen rose to become the city of artists in the late 70s of the 19th century due to an incisive event in literature and history. This was the time when Klausen flourished as a meeting point for artists. From 1874 to 1914 over 300 painters and sculptors stayed in Klausen, local artists such as Gallmetzer, Piffrader, Rabensteiner and Telfner as well as international artists like Defregger, Egger-Lienz, Loesch and Koester, one of the most significant representative of the Klausner Art Colony. He lived and worked from 1896 to 1915 in this picturesque town at the Eisack river and discovered there his favourite subject, the duck. The exhibition of Alexander Koester shows apart from the works of the museum also some paintings from the Dr. Hans and Hildegard Koester Foundation e.V Dortmund.

The museum gallery offers a varied range of artwork, hosting five special exhibitions per year and the tour through the museum also includes a visit to the baroque Capuchin church.