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A heritage just waiting to be explored

Dobbiaco, the Tre Cime area and the Dolomites boast a rich cultural heritage and fascinating history and traditions. Our Hotel Union is the ideal starting point for a voyage of discovery taking in our picturesque villages, museums, churches and other places worth visiting.
Dobbiaco is known as the "Doorway to the Dolomites" because of its breath-taking views over the Tre Cime di Lavaredo peaks and during your stay here you can't miss a trip to the town's historic centre with its monuments, architecture, historic sites and traditions.

The town of Dobbiaco

The parish church of Dobbiaco, one of the most interesting examples of Baroque art in Val Pusteria, Herbst Castle also known as Castel Herbstenburg which once housed the prisons of the Court of Dobbiaco, the 15th Century Torre Rossa and Casa Englös with its romantic history, are just some of the places to explore as you wander around the streets of Dobbiaco.
We recommend art-lovers pay a visit to the little Chapel of Franadega originally a tabernacle to the plague, to the Church of San Nicolò dedicated to the saint who protects the town from avalanches and floods, to the oldest Via Crucis in Tyrol with its five shrines along the way and the Chapel of San Pietro am Kofl which can be reached by walking along Sentiero della Meditazione (Meditation Footpath).

A few kilometres from Dobbiaco

Just a few kilometres from our hotel in Dobbiaco you can visit San Candido, a little town famous for its arts and crafts, to explore the local customs and traditions.
At Sesto you can admire the works of Rudolf Stolz, one of the most famous Tyrolese artists of the 20th Century whose main work is the "Danse Macabre" on the stairway to the cemetery.
The town of Brunico, its castle home to the Messner Mountain Museum, is also within easy reach of the Union.
Holidaymakers can't possible miss a trip to Cortina, the Queen of the Dolomites, a treasure trove of history and culture and also the centre of today's fashionable life.

Bellum Aquilarum

Bellum Aquilarum is a memorial association that aims to preserve for future generations the traces of the First World War as it was played out in the Dolomites of Alto Adige. To do this, the association has created the open-air Great War Museum of Anderter Alpe, the basecamp for the Austro-Hungarian troops. Here visitors can get a feeling for the high-altitude artillery posts, the outposts on the Croda Rossa and Cima Undici peaks and all the huts and cableways built high up in the mountains. They can learn about the everyday life of the soldiers on the Dolomite front in the winter of 1916 with its exceptionally heavy snowfall. The museum offers guided tours from mid-June till the end of September.
www.bellumaquilarum.it

The ethnographic museum of the customs and traditions of Teodone

The museum's theme is the world and daily life of the rural populations of yesteryear, from the rural aristocrats to the manual workers and subsistence framers. The most high-profile part of the museum is the Mair am Hof Residence with its stately rooms and ethnographic collections. The rustic building next to the residence houses agricultural tools, equipment and vehicles, while in the open air section, visitors can view original peasant chalets, craft workshops, agricultural fields and farm animals.
www.museo-etnografico.it

Via Romana di Dobbiaco

The Via Romana (Roman Road) runs from Monte Rota above Dobbiaco to Monte Eggerberg, a route laden with history that is assumed to be named after the ancient road used by the Romans to cross the Province of Noricum. The remains of the principal Roman settlements can be viewed to the East, at the Aguntum Museum in Lienz, or, to the west, at the Mansio Sebatum Museum in San Lorenzo di Sebato near Brunico.

The natural park visitor centre at the Dobbiaco Grand Hotel

The visitor centre, in the former Dobbiaco Grand Hotel, provides information on the natural landscape and local culture, on hiking trails and historic events. To find out about the unique special features of the protected areas you can watch a film show on the natural parklands and by visit the workshop for a hands-on experience where you can touch, feel and see the natural landscape.

The Gustav Mahler Music Festival in Dobbiaco

Every year there is an amazing programme of musical events in the Tre Cime area during The Gustav Mahler Music Festival, held in July at the Dobbiaco Grand Hotel Cultural Centre just five minutes' walk from the Hotel Union. Under the care of Artistic Director Josef Lanz, this two-week festival dedicated to the famous Bohemian composer presents an audience of music-lovers with a rich programme of concerts, conferences and educational concerts. The programme is completed by the recording competition "Casetta di composizione di Dobbiaco" and the "Protocollo Mahler". Completely absorbed by his career as an orchestral conductor and director of various opera theatres in the world's major cities, Gustav Mahler yearned for the tranquillity of the countryside and spent his summers by the Attersee or the Wörthersee and, from 1908, also here in Dobbiaco, where he began work on his 9th Symphony, the unfinished 10th Symphony and his famous work "Das Lied von der Erde".

The open-air Great War Museums: Monte Piana and Cinque Torri

Monte Piana, with its spectacular 360° view over the surrounding countryside is one of the most sought-after destinations in the Dolomites for scholars and history-lovers. Here can be found one of the most difficult of the Great War fronts where over 14,000 soldiers bade farewell to life.
The open-air museum consisting of numerous walkways, trenches, tunnels and other historic features, can be reached on foot or by a 4X4 shuttle service starting from Lago di Misurina and travelling along the fascinating winding route of the old military road.
The most recent of the open-air museums was created directly below the famous Cinque Torri near Cortina. During the First World War this was the location of the Italian artillery command post, chosen for its amazing view over the nearby mountain peaks, making it possible to keep all the enemy lines under scrutiny and to coordinate military operations.
www.ecomuseograndeguerra.it

DoloMythos - The Natural World Heritage Museum

The DoloMythos Museum in the centre of San Candido will lead you on a journey through the myths and legends up to the era of the dinosaurs and the formation of the Dolomites. The museum, designed for both kids and grown-ups alike, will help you have fun and stir your interest as you discover the history of the dinosaurs, fossils and the wild bears of the Conturines and Ladin caves and of how the Dolomite landscapes were formed, plus lots more information.

The Bunker Museum

Situated near the state highway between San Candido and Dobbiaco, the Opera 1 Bunkeravventura Museum tells the story of the local historical events within the international 20th Century context.
This museum has a very atmospheric layout: an old bunker built in the Fascist period and in use up to the end of the Cold War, its rooms snaking through the tunnels that reach a depth of 10 metres underground   with concrete walls up to 7 metres high. This is a truly moving and involving way of gaining an understanding of that era's precarious balance between war and peace.

Some advice from us for your holiday

These are just some ideas for your holiday but our staff will be able to give you even more and better advice about what to see in Dobbiaco, suggesting routes, itineraries and the best sights to see.
We can recommend the best destinations to suit your tastes and interests, providing all the information you need to get where you want to go. We can give you travelling instructions and maps and we will be happy to answer all your questions and settle any doubts.
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