Ötzi was found by accident, in 1991

Ötzi was found by chance in 1991 by two hikers at the Tisenjoch in the Val Senales, is more than 5,300¹ years old, and has been in Bolzano since 1998.

An accident, not an excavation

Two walkers came across the body at the Tisenjoch, the Giogo di Tisa, in the Val Senales in 1991. No dig, no survey, no expectation: the ice had shrunk back and there he was.

The remains are more than 5,300¹ years old, which places him before the Etruscans and a long way before Rome. The cause of death is recorded as murder, from an arrow wound.

The find is what it is because of the ice. A body left on a pass in the open air leaves bones at best; this one kept skin, tools and clothing, which is the difference between a skeleton and an archive.

He is kept in a cold cell, and you look through a window

Since 1998 he has been in Bolzano, in a purpose-built refrigerated cell, visible through a small window in its wall. There is no open case, no walking around him, no lighting rig.

The window is smaller than most people expect and the queue in front of it moves at its own pace. Plan for that: the object you came for takes up a fraction of a square meter of the museum.

The museum does not publish the exact temperature and humidity held inside the cell on the page we read, so this page does not print a figure for it either.

Hours, and the Monday that catches everyone

The South Tyrol Museum of Archaeology opens Tuesday to Sunday, 10:00 am to 6:00 pm, with last entry at 5:30 pm (10:00 to 18:00, last entry 17:30, on Italian signs). It is closed on Mondays, except in July and August, when it opens every day.

Annual closures are January 1, May 1 and December 25. On December 24 and December 31 it closes early, at 3:00 pm.

Booking is recommended but not compulsory, and the booking office answers Monday to Friday from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm. The address is Via Museo 43, Museumstrasse 43 on the German side of the street sign, in the center of Bolzano.

Planning the hour

Last entry is 5:30 pm and the museum closes at 6:00 pm, which is a 30 minute window that most people misread as a full visit. Come earlier.

The 10:00 am opening is the other end of the same problem: the first hour is the most crowded of the day in a museum where the main object is seen through one small window and the line in front of it moves one person at a time.

The audio guide costs €4 and is worth it here, because the object explains itself less than the case around it does. Booking is possible on weekday mornings, from 9:00 am to 1:00 pm, and is not required.

The museum is in the center of Bolzano rather than on the edge of it, which makes this a walk-in visit from anywhere in the old town rather than a half-day expedition.

Prices, with a note on the year

The full ticket is €13, reduced €10, family €26 for two adults with children and €13 for one adult with children. Under 6s enter free, school groups pay €3 per student and the audio guide costs €4. Prices on this page are in euros.

One honest caveat about all of those figures: the museum's own page labels this list as the 2025 tariff, and it was still the published list when we checked in September 2026. If you are reading this after a January, check the list again before you count out cash.

For the rest of the city and what fits around a museum morning, see things to do in Bolzano.

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