Cowbells, the Berliner Hütte mountain hut in the Zillertal Alps, glacial legacy waste and a statue of Saint Nicholas – the mountainous landscape of Tyrol links them all. The exhibition explores the relationships between people and mountains – past and present. Alongside historical objects, it features artworks, films, songs and interactive stations. It’s an exhibition for mountain enthusiasts, families and curious visitors alike.

Tyrol’s mountains feel familiar: images of snow-covered peaks, untouched nature and mountain huts continue to shape how the region is perceived today. Yet a closer look also reveals motorways, dams and ski lifts. This is not a contradiction but part of a region whose mountains have long been shaped by diverse uses. The mountains influence the lives of people in Tyrol, while, in turn, they shape the mountains themselves. Economic activity and scientific research are just as much a part of this landscape as trade and travel.

The exhibition focuses on the mountains of the Austrian federal state of Tyrol, where global challenges such as climate change and mass tourism are especially visible. How are people responding to these issues? What strategies emerge when tourism and mountain pasture farming lead to competing demands on the landscape, when avalanches and rockfalls become part of everyday life, or when snow fails to arrive at the ski resorts?

Whether avalanche-control detonations or glacial waste (artefacts emerging as the ice sheet melts), alpine wreaths or fearfully costumed winter festival participants known as Schluchtenteufel (canyon devils), the mountain stories told in this exhibition are at times beautiful, at times unsettling, exciting or moving. They reveal the many different relationships people have with the alpine landscape.

Berlin, too, plays an important role: for more than 150 years, the Tyrolean mountains have been part of Berlin’s leisure culture – from the so-called Alpine balls held around 1900 by the Berlin section of the German Alpine Club, which built the Berliner Hütte mountain hut in the Zillertal Alps.

Discover and Participate

The exhibition presents historical and contemporary objects, graphics, photographs, films and songs, as well as artworks in a 300 m² space. Recommended viewing time is 60 to 90 minutes. Interviews and additional materials invite visitors to explore selected themes in greater depth.

Interactive stations encourage visitors to participate by touching materials such as pine wood or flax; photographing themselves in imaginary mountain landscapes; trying out games or creating their own mountain collages.

An audio guide (German or English) accompanies visitors through the exhibition. Children aged 6 to 10 can follow a special “mountain trail” designed for discovery, exploration and participation.

Children, teens and families are especially welcome.

European Cultural Days: Tyrol

The exhibition opens alongside the 22nd European Cultural Days (26 July–23 August 2026), which are dedicated to Tyrol this year. Visitors will have the opportunity to explore the region and its culture and exchange ideas with others. A diverse programme featuring concerts, readings, culinary events, open-air cinema, a climbing day and a yodelling workshop invites audiences to discover Tyrol from many different perspectives.

Supported by the Association of Friends of the Museum Europäischer Kulturen and Tirol Werbung

Media partner: HIMBEER

A special exhibition of the Museum Europäischer Kulturen – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin in cooperation with the Tiroler Volkskunstmuseum, the Ötztaler Museums, the Institute of History and European Ethnology at the University of Innsbruck, the Austrian Alpine Club, the Berlin section of the German Alpine Club and the Austrian Cultural Forum Berlin