The customer is the Signa Group, which in 2015 held a competition for a cable car project in the same northern Italian city. The winners were the architects Snøhetta, who have now developed the concept for the Museum Quarter. He, if plans come true, will arise on Mount Virgolo (Virgl), towering over Bolzano. This is where the future cable car will lead, and museums will appear next to its washer-shaped upper station.
Virgolo is located near the city center, but its steep slopes are not easy to climb, so a funicular was installed there in the early 20th century, which was replaced by a cable car in the 1950s. However, it was closed in 1976 and the city lost an important recreational area.
Now Virgolo can once again become accessible to townspeople and tourists, and not only as a place to relax and admire the views, but also as an important museum center. Its key exhibit will be the famous
The "Ice Man", or Otzi (Ötzi) is a naturally mummified body of a resident of these places in the Copper Age (he froze to death in the Alps about 5300 years ago, and he was found in 1991). Now the mummy is kept in the South Tyrol Archaeological Museum: its modern building (like the city museum across the street from it) is an eight-minute walk from the central Walterplatz square. The architects of Snøhetta emphasize that the path from the same square to the top of Virgolo, thanks to their cable car, will take only six minutes, that is, both museums, which will make up the “quarter” there, will become more accessible.
The elongated building of museums will form an ensemble with the "washer" of the station. Both buildings are planned to have roof-terraces where concerts, farmers' markets, etc. can be arranged. The surrounding landscape is easily adaptable to the needs of cyclists, hikers and hikers.
