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The Castle
1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6) Exhibition rooms 7) Garel-room 8) Tristan-room
Room of Garel In the Room of Garel are illustrated the adventures of Garel, hero of the Arthurian novel Garello della Valle Fiorita by Pleier (1230/40). The admirable cycle starts from the right side of the late gothic chimney on top of which Maximilian had affixed his coats-of-arms. Beneath Garel’s cycle there is a decoration with arcades in which are represented famous men and women.
Room of Tristan The
balcony of the Summer House leads to the Room
of Tristan which is decorated with frescoes representing the adventures
as told in Gottfried
von Strassburg’s novel "Tristan and Isolde" (1210). Unfortunately Tristan’s cycle does not
appear in its original state because of the many architectural transformations
of the room due to the collapse of the northern wall.
Westpalace and its freskos
9) Ex parlour 10) Knights'room 11) Bath 12) Room of coats of arms and knights'games 13) Couples'hall 14) Tournament hall
Hall of Tournament The Hall of Tournament is characterized by a large fresco showing the lance tournament with the Archduke of Austria and Nobles of South Tyrol. On its very top and centrally located is the imperial coat-of-arms with the double eagle. Left and right are the coats-of-arms of the electors and below the tournament are painted the coats-of-arms of the independent European kingdoms of the time. The fresco of the tournament shows two teams of six knights riding towards each other with their lances. Beneath the tournament scene are represented other activities with which the nobles used to amuse themselves, for example, the ball game and the courtly dance. On the western and nothern wall are preserved frescoes depicting hunting of stag and wild boar as well as skinning of a hunting bear which were another favourite pastime of the nobles. The eastern wall shows scenes of fishing.
Hall of Couples The Hall
of Couples
has got a representative function. Once again, there
are scenes of a tournament: that of the clubs, thick heavy wooden sticks used by the
knights as weapons during their fightings.
Hall of Coat-of-Arms The
Hall of Coat-of-Arms
relates to the many decorations running
under the ceiling representing coats-of-arms with various heraldic figures of
various noble families of
the region such as the family of Fuchs, of Botsch and of Thurns. On the southern
wall paws of a white bear representing the heraldig figure on the coat-of-arms
of the Vintler family.
Room of the Games of the Knights In the Room of the Games of Knights the frescoes show a rural landscape with ladies and knights playing with each other. The fresco on the eastern wall shows the earliest picture of Runkelstein Castle before 1390. The rock on which the Castle rests is still intact because the nothern wall of Summer House has not yet collapsed.
The
next room is
the so called "Chamber
of Bath".
An open gallery with figures of ladies,
knights and animals is painted over an imitation of painted cloth or carpet
and an imitation of a row of marble in the
socket area. The hall ows its name due to the figures
which appear nacked on the western wall. They are just sinopities of shapes left unfinished.
Only male figures are painted on the nothern wall of the room and - a real
exception to the techniques of the time - one of those figures is turning his back to
the observer. Obviously this did not match with the etiquette of the courtly
ceremony of the time. The original floor and dark blue ceiling with sun, moon and
stars are also worth to be seen too.
The Hall
of Knights is situated in the mezzanine floor of the Western
Palace. This room is characterised by two frescoes only which have been saved. A peculiarity of this hall are the paintings of
coat-of-arms on
the western wall, commissioned by the Count of Liechtenstein in the sixteenth
century.
The Chapel was originally built with two storeys by the Lords of Wangen. Later, the Vintler family reconstructed it eliminating the upper floor. The chapel had its second glorious inauguration in 1390, honoring the Holy Trinity, the Holy Virgin, St. Christopher, St. Anthony and St. Catherine. Nikolaus Vintler commissioned painting of the entire inner chapel with scenes from the lives (Viten) of the patrons of the chapel, St Christopher, Anthony Abbas and Catherine of Alexandria. The Apse depicted of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ.
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