The Messner Mountain Museum Dolomites is located on Mount Rite (2181 m), in the heart of the Dolomites between Pieve di Cadore and Cortina d’Ampezzo. Mount Rite is a mountain situated in a strategic position so that between 1912 and 1914 the homonymous military fort was built to defend the Italian borders by the troops of the Austrian Emperor Franscesco Giuseppe. The museum was set up inside this fortress and was dedicated to the rock, and therefore to the history of exploration and mountaineering in the Dolomites. In this fort there are works of art depicting the Dolomites ranging from Romanticism to contemporary art, combined with panoramic windows that allow a suggestive view of the surrounding peaks.
The museum is dedicated to the "rock" element and tells the story of Dolomite exploration and mountaineering. In the gallery in the nave there are paintings and works from Reinhold Messner’s collection that represent the Dolomites, from Romanticism to contemporary art. The artistic views magically alternate with the panoramic views of the museum windows on the surrounding peaks: Monte Schiara, Monte Agnèr, Cimon della Pala, Monte Civetta, Marmolada, Monte Pelmo, Tofana di Rozes, Sorapis, Antelao, Marmolada.
"The museum in the clouds" also preserves some evidence of the origin of the Dolomite rock: fossils of claraia shells 250 million years ago, fossils of palm ferns 240 million years ago and other extraordinary finds, in memory of what were coral reefs in a tropical sea.
