Lumen Museum opens in the Dolomite mountain range in Italy

Lumen Museum in South Tyrol — The Lumen Musuem in South Tyrol is a mountain-top gallery that explores mountain photography from history to the present. (Image credit: Marco Zanta)

At the summit of Plan de Corones in the Kronplatz region of South Tyrol, the Lumen Museum celebrates the history and present of mountain photography. Designed by architect Gerhard Mahlknecht of EM2 architects, the building cantilevers out over the Italian Dolomites creating quite the photo opportunity in itself.

The new volume in the landscape communicates with the modern form of the nearby former mountain station of the Kronplatz funicular and the Zaha Hadid-designed Messner Mountain Museum – Reinhold Messner, a renowned climber and mountain pioneer, is also celebrated at Lumen with a permanent exhibition on his work protecting the Alps.

Lumen photography gallery in South Tyrol

Exploring the breadth of mountain culture from alpinism and tourism, to politics, spirituality and history, Lumen is set across four floors. A journey through the gallery involves climbing staircases that cut through the heart of the building, into spaces of varying ceiling heights that prescribe the function of space from stepped seating areas to long walls displaying photographs. The layered experience of space is echoed in the galleries, each designed for different uses from permanent and temporary exhibitions, to a mirror room that seeks to capture the poetic atmosphere of the mountains.

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Exhibition design by GiòForma and graphics by zukunvt, help educate vistors on the photographic pioneers of the mountains across a ‘wall of fame’ including insights into the lives and work of the Tairraz brothers, Bernhard Johannes, Jules Beck and Vittorio Sella considered the first photo-alpinist.

As well as a gallery, Lumen is set to become a cultural establishment and social destination. A new restaurant with views across the Dolomites, AlpiNN, features food by chef Norbert Niederkofler who seeks to capture mountain culture and traditions through local seasonal ingredients, while an event venue with a 200 capacity will create a creative hub for live happenings and culture.

Mountainside photography gallery exterior

INFORMATION

For more information, visit the Lumen Museum website and the EM2 website

Harriet Thorpe is a writer, journalist and editor covering architecture, design and culture, with particular interest in sustainability, 20th-century architecture and community. After studying History of Art at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) and Journalism at City University in London, she developed her interest in architecture working at Wallpaper* magazine and today contributes to Wallpaper*, The World of Interiors and Icon magazine, amongst other titles. She is author of The Sustainable City (2022, Hoxton Mini Press), a book about sustainable architecture in London, and the Modern Cambridge Map (2023, Blue Crow Media), a map of 20th-century architecture in Cambridge, the city where she grew up.

Mountain-top photography gallery the Lumen Museum opens in the Italian Dolomites

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