Spectacular Zaha Hadid-Designed Mountain Museum Opens in the Dolomites

The Zaha Hadid-designed Messner Mountain Museum (MMM) in Corones, which opened on July 24, is the last in a network of six museums erected on mountaintops across South Tyrol in an ambitious museum project created by the renowned Italian mountaineer, Reinhold Messner.

Messner, who is the first to climb all 14 Eight-thousanders, gained international fame for also becoming the first man to climb Mount Everest without the help of oxygen.

The museum is designed to blend into its environment.
Photo: Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects via The Telegraph.

The institution, located on the summit of Mount Kronplatz, offers visitors stunning panoramic views of the Dolomites at 2,275 meters (7,463 feet) above sea level.

The scenic mountain location is offset by Hadid’s creative architecture, which has been designed to integrate the structure into its rocky setting. Recently, the starchitect’s designs for the Tokyo Olympic stadium were scrapped.

Even the interior contains references to the building’s environment, such as the staircases, designed to evoke the stunning Alpine waterfalls found in the region.

At 7,463 feet the museum offers stunning mountain views.
Photo: Courtesy of Zaha Hadid Architects via The Telegraph.

It contains items which tell the story of the “supreme discipline of mountaineering,” according to the museum’s website. Objects and photographs from Messner’s climbing career are featured prominently.

Messner reportedly selected the museum’s site due to the “unique location in a true melting pot of the region’s Ladin, Italian, and German-speaking population.”

The other museums founded by Messner include the institution’s flagship at MMM Firmian, located inside Sigmundskron Castle. It shows mountaineering-related historic artifacts and art.

MMM Firmian.
Photo: Courtesy of messner-mountain-museum.it via The Telegraph.

The MMM Dolomites on Monte Rite focuses on paintings of the legendary mountain range by artists spanning from the Romantic period to contemporary art.

MMM Dolomites.
Photo: Courtesy of messner-mountain-museum.it via The Telegraph.

Meanwhile, the MMM Juval, in Juval Castle, includes paintings of the world’s “holiest” mountains, the Telegraph reports. It has been designed to attract all travelers and, in addition to paintings, it also includes a mountain zoo, a restaurant, and a farmhouse shop.

MMM Juval.
Photo: Courtesy of messner-mountain-museum.it via The Telegraph.

MMM Rimuseupa, located in Bruneck Castle in the Puster Valley, focuses on international mountaineering achievements in Asia, Africa, South America, and Europe.

MMM Ripa.
Photo: Courtesy of messner-mountain-museum.it via The Telegraph.

Finally, the ice-themed MMM Museum at Mount Ortler features paintings from the icy mountain as well as exhibits on ice climbing equipment and other arctic-themed artifacts.

MMM Ortler.
Photo: Courtesy of messner-mountain-museum.it via The Telegraph.

For related coverage, see:

Japan Scraps Zaha Hadid’s $2 Billion Design for Tokyo Olympic Stadium

Controversy Rages Over Zaha Hadid’s Olympic Stadium Design for Tokyo

Zaha Hadid Tapped for London Science Museum Addition