Tyrolese Architecture 
A ROOM OF THE CHAPEL CASTLE OF CHURBURG 
The ground floors are often but a rudely 
vaulted support for a comfortable habitation 
above, and many a traveler will remember the 
gloomy chill which was his welcome to the 
Tyrolese inn before he mounted the first flight 
of stairs. In southern parts of the country 
these dismal vaulted passages open upon inte¬ 
rior courts whose aspect, compared with a 
forbidding exterior, is a surprise. At Ster- 
zing this can best be seen. The courts are 
covered with a roof resting upon columns and 
affording shelter from rain and sun while the 
air can penetrate freely and breathe an agree¬ 
able freshness throughout the dwelling dur¬ 
ing the hot portion of the year. The stories 
are reached hy exterior stairs, extending from 
landings of wood and turning around the 
court as they ascend. 
Many interiors, especially of the palaces, 
are harmoniously carried out in a debased 
Renaissance. Others are a woeful confusion 
of Renaissance and Gothic motifs. Castles 
of renown and great historic importance it is 
dangerous to count on, if one seeks them to 
find architectural beauty, the best taste or 
refinement in their interior detail. It is in 
the minor buildings that the most suggestiv e 
work is to be found. Though it have harsh 
contrasts and unpardonable crudities, the 
handiwork of the Tyrolese is here awaiting 
the architect and the student who would dis¬ 
cover original forms, freedom of architectural 
thought and independence of execution. 
Coarseness comes from strength and not from 
weakness ; the bizarre is the exuberance of 
childhood, and the Tyrolese are children in 
mind if not in years. The development 
which their commonest motifs and habits of 
building might reach, if their work were 
tempered by a master mind, or if subtly 
subdued by a mature artist, would give 
their mountain land an enviable prominence 
as a mine of suggestion and a field tor 
study. Herbert C. Wise. 
642 
