Snøhetta’s proposal for a new Museum Quarter in Bolzano will give “Ötzi the Iceman” a new home. The distinctive building is intended to be located on top of the prominent Virgolo/Virgl mountain, overlooking the South Tyrolean capital of Bolzano in Northern Italy. Together with the planned Bolzano cable car structure, also designed by Snøhetta, the new Museum Quarter on top of the Virgl mountain will serve as a terrace for the city’s inhabitants. As a new landmark for the area, this elevated public space will still be perceived as being part of the city given its proximity to the center of Bolzano and the accessible cable car connection.
The design study has been conducted on behalf of the Signa Group to develop the

The Virgl has always been an important site for the South Tyrolean capital due to its cultural and historical significance, with its prehistoric and Roman traces as well as its majestic green space. Yet the steep Virgl mountain has been practically inaccessible to visitors for almost forty years, following the closing of the city’s historic funicular in 1976.
“The new Museum Quarter will create a synthesis of city and nature, of history and future, of building and landscape, of culture, leisure and knowledge,” says Kjetil Trædal Thorsen, Founding Partner of Snøhetta. “Visitors can meet Ötzi the Iceman, one of the most important archaeological discoveries, on top of the

The building blends into the surrounding topography and extends the mountain terrain. Together, the elongated museum structure and the ring-shaped station form an ensemble. Arriving from the station, visitors can enter both museums through

Through the planned cable car structure and the new Museum Quarter, the