Italy's Mountain Museums Tell Story of Climbing Where would you normally expect to find a museum? In a city or a small town, probably? Well, what about on top of a mountain? South Tyrol in northern Italy is home to six such mountain museums. The Messner Mountain Museums (MMM) were opened by famous Italian mountain climber Reinhold Messner between 1995 and 2015. In 1986, Messner became the first person to climb all 14 of the world's mountains that are taller than 8,000 meters, and each of his museums has a different theme. Described as the "heart" of the museum group, MMM Firmian is found in a castle called Sigmundskron. Its main theme is the relationship between humans and mountains. Here, through a collection that includes rock samples, sculptures, pictures and text, visitors learn about the science of rock formation, as well as the spiritual and cultural connections different people have felt with mountains. MMM Dolomites is in an old fort in the mountains of the same name. Here you can see fossils, maps and even old climbing equipment that tell the history of the Dolomites, where people have lived and explored since at least 6000 BC. MMM Juval is in a castle that Messner bought in 1983 to use as both a private home and a museum. It has a collection of art and writing about mountain myths from around the world. MMM Ripa in Bruneck Castle looks at the cultures of people who live in mountains, such as in Tibet and Peru. And MMM Ortles brings visitors underground into a man-made cave and a world of ice, glaciers and polar exploration. Finally, MMM Corones was opened in 2015 in a building by British-Iraqi architect Zaha Hadid, who also designed the Beijing Daxing International Airport. At the top of the 2,275-meter-tall Mount Kronplatz, this museum is all about alpinism, which is the art of climbing high mountains, rocks and walls in all weather.