The ancestral castle of the province of Tyrol was built at the beginning of the 12th century. It is one of the best researched sites of medieval architecture. You can visit the remains of early medieval churches at the outer castle, the St. Pancratius Chapel, the two Romanesque portals, and the sculptures of the capitals in the knights' hall, which are among the main works of Romanesque stonemasonry in the Alpine region.
The marble portals were artfully made around 1140. As a portal to paradise, the palace portal depicts animal and human representations. In the tympanum, there is an angel preaching and speaking as well as a lily sceptre. The chapel portal symbolises the redemption of the people through Christ's death on the cross, the Fall of Man, as well as mythical creatures that indicate the need for redemption. On the triumphal arch of the chapel, the evangelist symbols, but also mythical creatures and beasts represent the Last Judgement. The chapel was painted around 1330. The oldest figurative glass window in Tyrol can also be seen here.
Romanesque marble portals and castle chapel of St. Pancratius
In Romanesque times, a portal is not simply an entrance; it is always a symbolic entrance, a transition that illustrates the medieval cosmos to the faithful of that time. At the marble portal in Schloss Tyrol Castle, an impressive and rare representation of the Fall of Man is displayed.
Worth seeing is also the preserved building stock including stone-faced walls. In the crypt, the two building phases of 1100 and 1138 are clearly visible. The palace contains the largest representative secular room of the Middle Ages in the whole of South Tyrol.