Bruneck ' onMouseout='HidePop("76601")' href="http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Ladin">Ladin
Ladin is a Rhaeto-Romance language spoken in the Dolomite mountains in northern Italy in the border regions of the provinces Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and Veneto...
:
Bornech; ; is the largest town in the Puster Valley in the
ItalianItaly , officially the Italian Republic , is a country located on the Italian Peninsula in Southern Europe and on the two largest islands in the Mediterranean Sea, Sicily and Sardinia. Italy shares its northern, Alpine boundary with France, Switzerland, Austria and Slovenia...
province of Bolzano-Bozen. Bruneck lies at the confluence of the
AhrThe Ahr is a river in South Tyrol, Italy.-References:*...
with the Rienz (which itself flows into the
EisackThe Eisack is a river in Northern Italy, the second largest river in the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol region. Its source is near the Brenner Pass, at an altitude of about 1990 m above sea level. The river draws water from an area of about 4,200 km²...
river.
Bruneck lies 35 km (22 miles) from
BrixenBrixen is the name of two cities in the Alps:*Brixen , Bolzano-Bozen, Italy*Brixen im Thale, Tyrol, AustriaBrixen may also refer to:*Bishopric of Brixen, the former north-Italian state....
and 70 km (44 miles) from Bolzano and from the
Brenner PassBrenner Pass is a mountain pass through the Alps along the border between Italy and Austria, and is one of the principal passes of the Alps. It is the lowest and easiest of the Alpine passes, and one of the few in the area...
. To the east, the town is 60 km (37 miles) from Winnebach on the border to
East TyrolEast Tyrol, or East Tirol , is an exclave of the Austrian state of Tyrol, sharing no border with North Tyrol, the main part of the state. The reason for East Tyrol's situation is the fact that Austria had to cede Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol to Italy according to the Treaty of Saint Germain...
.
According to the 2001 census, 83.14% of the population speak German, 14.91% Italian and 1.95% Ladin as first language.
History
Bruneck was founded by the
Prince-BishopThe Bishopric of Brixen is a former Roman Catholic diocese and also a former ecclesiastical state of the Holy Roman Empire in the present Province of Bolzano-Bozen. The bishopric in the Eisack/Isarco valley was established in the 6th century and gradually received more secular powers...
Bruno von Kirchberg of Bruneck, and was first mentioned on 23 February 1256. At that time the town consisted of two rows of houses forming a narrow lane. The town walls and moat were completed in 1336 under Bishop Albert von Enn. Soon thereafter, further rows of houses were built outside the eastern gate. These led to the small Church of Our Lady (today's Church of the Assumption of Mary). The first church inside the town walles (at first only a small chapel) was built beneath the castle by the Brunecker
burgherHistorically, the bourgeoisie were a social class of people, characterized by their ownership of capital and the related culture. They were a part of the middle or merchant classes of European feudalism, where their power came from employment, education, and wealth, as distinguished from those...
Niklas Stuck. This church is today the
Rainkirche. In 1358, Heinrich von Stuck, Niklas's brother, funded the
hospitalA hospital is an institution for health care providing patient treatment by specialized staff and equipment, and often but not always providing for longer-term patient stays....
/
almshouseAlmshouses are charitable housing provided to enable people to live in a particular community...
that was built in the following years.
Soon the town received the right to hold a weekly market and impose
high justiceHigh, middle and low justices are notions dating from Western feudalism to indicate descending degrees of judiciary power to administer justice by the maximal punishment the holders could inflict upon their subjects and other dependents....
. A castle leader occupied the fortress as the bishop's representative.
In the 14th and 15th centuries there was brisk trade between
AugsburgAugsburg is a city in the south-west of Bavaria in Germany. It is a College town and home of the Regierungsbezirk Schwaben and the Bezirk Schwaben. Augsburg is an urban district and home to the institutions of the Landkreis Augsburg. It is, as of 2008, the third-largest city in Bavaria with a...
and
VeniceVenice is a city in northern Italy, the capital of the region Veneto, a population of 271,367 . Together with Padua, the city is included in the Padua-Venice Metropolitan Area . The city historically was an independent nation...
. Some of the traded goods were brought through the Pustertal and often stored long-term in Bruneck on the Ballplatz. This soon brought the town prosperity and fame. In this time the Pustertal painting school was founded by the painter Hans von Bruneck and others. The great masters
Michael PacherMichael Pacher was an Austrian Tyrolean painter and sculptor active during the last quarter of the 15th century. His best-known work is the altarpiece at the church in the village of St. Wolfgang, Austria. This altarpiece contains scenes from the life of Jesus and the Virgin Mary...
and Friedrich Pacher also studied at this school. Michael Pacher's studio in Bruneck became one of the most famous institutes in the whole Alpine region. For this reason, Bruneck is also known as
Michael-Pacher-Stadt.
In 1500 the
PustertalThe Puster Valley is a valley in the Alps that runs in an east-west direction between Lienz in Tyrol, Austria and Mühlbach near Brixen in the province of Bolzano-Bozen, Italy...
was reunited with
TyrolThe Princely County of Tyrol was an independent county within the Holy Roman Empire, and later a Kronland of Cisleithanian Austria. Today its territory is divided between the Italian region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol and the Austrian state of Tyrol...
because of a testamentary contract between the house of
HabsburgThe House of Habsburg or Hapsburg was an important royal house of Europe and is best known for being an origin of all of the formally elected Holy Roman Emperors between 1452 and 1740, as well as rulers of the Austrian and Spanish Empire and several other countries...
and the counts of Görz-Tirol. The town of Bruneck remained an episcopal possession.
In 1610 the town of Bruneck, which had previously belonged to the parish of
St. LorenzenSt. Lorenzen is a comune in the province of Bolzano-Bozen in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 100 km northeast of Trento and about 50 km northeast of Bolzano ....
, became a parish in its own right. The first parish priest documented was Johann Herlin in 1613. In 1626 the Capuchin order came to Bruneck. The Fathers built themselves a
monasteryMonastery , a term derived from the Greek word μοναστήριον, neut. of μοναστήριος - monasterios denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer Monastery (plural: monasteries), a term derived from the Greek word μοναστήριον, neut. of μοναστήριος - monasterios...
at the "Spitalangerle", which still exists today. In 1741 a
conventA convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...
was built by the
UrsulinesThe Ursulines are a Roman Catholic religious order founded at Brescia, Italy, by Saint Angela de Merici in November 1535, primarily for the education of girls and the care of the sick and needy. Their patron saint is Saint Ursula.-History:...
.
On 11 April 1723 the worst fire in the town's history occurred. In Oberragen, not far from the church, a fire broke out, which was soon spread by the strong east wind across a large part of the town, mostly destroying it.
During the long-lasting
Napoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of conflicts declared against Napoleon's French Empire and changing sets of European allies by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionized European armies and played...
the town suffered no material damage, but as a marching station went into great debt because of housing and feeding soldiers and infantrymen for many years.
After World War I, South Tyrol and so also Bruneck became part of the Italian State, getting the Italian name.
The city was spared damage in
World War IWorld War I , also known as the First World War, the Great War, and the War to End All Wars, was a global military conflict which involved most of the world's great powers, assembled in two opposing alliances: the Triple Entente and the Triple Alliance...
, but in
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including all great powers, organized into two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
the town was bombed, leading to loss of both life and property.
Economy
After the war, industrial zones, workshops, and department stores were built, permitting the town considerable economic and geographic growth. In the 1960s, tourism was especially important to the town, resulting in the building of numerous new hotels and guest houses.
Today Bruneck is characterizied by the
manufacturingManufacturing is the use of machines, tools and labor to make things for use or sale. The term may refer to a range of human activity, from handicraft to high tech, but is most commonly applied to industrial production, in which raw materials are transformed into finished goods on a large scale...
and
service industriesThe tertiary sector of economy is one of the three economic sectors, the others being the secondary sector and the primary sector...
. Important tourist centers are found all around Bruneck. Especially worthy of mention is the ski resort on
KronplatzThe Kronplatz is a mountain in South Tyrol, Italy....
mountain.
As of 22 October 2001, the day of the Italian population and employment census, Bruneck had 10,692 employed persons in 1,678 workplaces, making it the second-largest employer of the province. It lay only just after Brixen (Bressanone), which on census day employed 239 fewer people. Five companies in the town employ more than 250 people each, and five more companies employ more than 100 people each.
Notable people
Nanni MorettiGiovanni Moretti is an Italian film director, producer, screenwriter and actor.-Life and work:Born in Bruneck from the epigraphist Luigi Moretti, Greek teacher at Rome La Sapienza, and resident for his whole life in Rome, he is known for his films Caro diario and La stanza del figlio...
, director
Manfred ReicheggerManfred Reichegger is an Italian ski mountaineer.Reichegger was born in Bruneck. He competed first in ski mountaineering in 1999 and has been member of the national team since 2002.- Selected results :* 2002:...
, Italian ski mountaineer
Karin KnappKarin Knapp is an Italian female tennis player. She was ranked World No. 35 on 25 February 2008.-Career:...
, Tennis player with German roots
Twin towns
BrignolesBrignoles is a town and commune of south-eastern France, in the Var département, of which it is a sous-préfecture. Population 16,000.It was the summer residence of the counts of Provence. Their castle dates from the thirteenth century....
,
FranceFrance , officially the French Republic , is a country located in Western Europe, with several overseas islands and territories located on other continents. Metropolitan France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean...
Groß-GerauGroß-Gerau is the district seat of the Groß-Gerau district, lying in the southern Frankfurt Rhein-Main Region in Hesse, Germany, and serving as a hub for the surrounding area.- Location :...
,
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
TieltTielt is a Belgian municipality in the province of West Flanders. The municipality comprises the city of Tielt proper and the towns of Aarsele, Kanegem, and Schuiferskapelle.-History:...
,
BelgiumThe Kingdom of Belgium is a country in northwest Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts its headquarters, as well as those of other major international organizations, including NATO...
Szamotuły,
PolandPoland , officially the Republic of Poland , is a country in Central Europe . Poland is bordered by Germany to the west; the Czech Republic and Slovakia to the south; Ukraine, Belarus and Lithuania to the east; and the Baltic Sea and Kaliningrad Oblast, a Russian exclave, to the north...
External links
Homepage of the city