Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum (Tyrolean Folk Art Museum)

The Tyrolean Folk Art Museum, located in the former Franciscan monastery in Innsbruck, is one of the most beautiful of its kind in all of Europe. It evolved from the "Crafts Museum," which was founded in 1888 and initially collected contemporary and exemplary craft products. Since 1929, the museum has belonged to the state of Tyrol and focuses primarily on crafts and arts and crafts, home industries, but also on popular piety and Tyrolean masks and costumes.

Between the years 2008 and 2009, the Folk Art Museum was completely redesigned and now presents itself in a completely new guise. The various impressive exhibition themes include the "Full Year" and the "Precarious Life", the crib collection "Miniatures of the Gospel", the costume exhibition "Appearance and Reality", and the (Tyrolean) parlors.

On the occasion of the World Nativity Congress, which takes place from November 15 to 18 in Innsbruck, the Folk Art Museum is now also showing a highly interesting special exhibition on the theme of Christmas. "Peace on Earth" embarks on a search for the origins of the Christmas festival and its relationship to the present Christmas reality.

Traditionally, we associate Christmas with peace, contemplation, silence, and family. Christmas trees, candles, cribs, Christmas cookies, and Christmas markets seem to be an inextricable part of the festival, but so are gifts, shopping frenzy, and lavish eating. When we talk about the "quietest time of the year" today, it is often just an empty phrase in the face of the Christmas bustle and the often unrestrained compulsion to consume.

The encounter and mixing of different Christmas traditions in the age of globalization - keyword "Santa Claus versus Christ Child" - is also a theme of the exhibition, which is accompanied by the publication "StudioHefte 11" with numerous interesting contributions. "Peace on Earth" can be seen from November 16, 2012, to February 2, 2013. Also fitting for the Christmas season, the Folk Art Museum currently has the crib exhibition "Come and see" with numerous exhibits from the 18th century to the present made of wood, clay, and wax.

Information about the Tyrolean Folk Art Museum and the current exhibitions can be found on the museum's homepage:

www.tiroler-landesmuseen.at/haeuser/tiroler-volkskunstmuseum/