Mineral Museum Teis

In the center of the idyllic mountain village of Teis/Tiso, situated at an elevation of 960 meters between the Eisacktal and Villnöss valleys, you’ll find the expertly organized Mineral Museum. It provides a comprehensive overview of the origins and nature of crystals, which can be found in the Dolomites and be admired in the museum today.

Paul Fischnaller, a mountain guide and mineral collector from Teis, has recovered rock crystals from the Villnöss Mountains over the course of the last thirty years. The best known of these are probably the Teiser Balls. These geodes and agate nodules are embedded in their parent rock, a quartz-porphyry tuff, and can reach up to twenty centimeters in diameter. The cavity of these druses contain up to seven different minerals. The museum not only shows the famous Geodes of Teis, but also minerals from other areas in the Alps as well as some special exhibitions.

Children in particular love the guided hikes, during which they can search for Teiser Balls themselves. The museum shop has extensive literature on the subject as well as souvenirs, Teiser Balls, jewelry and healing stones.

SPECIAL EXHIBITION: Minerals of the Dolomites - A Blaze of Colour from the Dark
Easter - November 2024
Curators: Volkmar Mair, Director of the Office for Geology and Building Materials Testing, and Daniel Lorenz
Mineral hunters/exhibitors: Members of the Bolzano chapter of the SMS (Ass. of South Tyrolean Mineral Collectors)
The Southern Alps were twice shaped by major volcanic events over a large area. The age and formation characteristics of the two volcanic events are as distinct as their landscapes and rocks:

• Mineral specimens from the porphyries of the Bolzano Caldera
• Mineral specimens from the basalts and andesites of the Dolomites