Val Gardena Heritage Museum

Located in Ortisei, the Val Gardena Heritage Museum, Museum Gherdëina in Ladin, provides an insight into the culture and nature of this beautiful valley. Wood-carving in the Val Gardena for instance boasts a centuries-old tradition; four centuries to say it more clearly. Have a look at sacred wood carvings by important South Tyrolean carvers or secular work of arts such as wooden animals, cribs or chess figures.

Archaeological findings date back to long passed times such as the Stone Age and introduce you to the original settlements of the Val Gardena. Valuable fossils, stones and minerals are evidence of the geological history of the Dolomites. Have a look at local animals and birds, a butterfly collection as well as a collection of plants and get to know the Alpine flora and fauna. Even an ichthyosaurus - half fish, half saurian - whose fossilised bone remains were found on Secëda in 1968, can now be experienced up close thanks to virtual reality.

Worth seeing is also the collection of paintings, featuring e.g. oil paintings by the important Ladin painter Josef Moroder-Lusenberg. The valley museum boasts, moreover, a memorial collection dedicated to the South Tyrolean composer and director Luis Trenker. One of the museum's main attractions is the unique collection of old Gardena wooden toys, most of which was compiled, with much dedication, by Hans Senoner Vastlé prior to the outbreak of World War II.