Castel di Tùres - Burg Taufers

From its advantageous position Castel Tures keeps an eye on the entrance of the Valle Aurina. The high surrounding mountains make the scenery even more majestic. The castle was mentioned for the first time in 1225 but what is sure is that the owners of the castle in 1335 were the Edelfreie di Tures family. After the final member of the family died the castle frequently changed owner. During the 15th century it was rebuilt by the dukes of Austria, the Fieger family and the Selva and Rodengo barons. They built a wall around the castle, offices and living rooms for judges and custodians, a gate with watchtowers and a lift bridge. However, year after year, the castle slowly started deteriorating. The building was renovated for the first time in the 20th century by Ludwig Lobmayr. Even Hieronimus Gassner commissioned a reconstruction of the castle in 1945. Today, it is composed of a Romanesque base and added gothic style details. In 1977 Castel Tùres was purchased by the Istituto dei Castelli (Burginstitut) of South-Tyrol. Due to the fact that the castle had never suffered enemy attacks and therefore did not suffer any destruction, the original and valuable furniture has remained intact. Today the castle counts 64 nicely furbished rooms some of which refurbished. Romanesque and gothic style art, Pacher frescos on the walls of the chapel, the armoury, new paintings by Lydia Roppolt are enough to impress anyone keen on culture and art. The film director Roman Polansky probably used the castle as a location for his cult film "Dance of the vampires". The films "The red violin", "I martiri della fede", "Jacob Hutter and the Hutterites" were also filmed in the castle.