Wood carving

It is very difficult to exactly determine when the wood carving activity in Val Gardena started. It is a process which probably started at the beginning of the 17th century. The first documentation dates back to 1625 and refers to the sculptor Christian Trebinger, who, together with his brothers Bartolomeo, Domenico and Antonio, specialized in the manufacture of carved ornamental objects, picture frames as well as clock and console stands. 
This is how the famous Trebinger dynasty in Ortisei came into being. In S. Cristina it was Melchiorre Vinazer to mark the beginning of the Vinazer dynasty.

Melchiorre Vinazer was born on 11th September 1622. He learned sculpting under Master Rafael Barath near Bressanone and received his diploma in 1650. Six of Melchiorre’s children became sculptors; some of them perfected their technique in cities like Rome, Venice and Vienna.

At this time, wood carving was not yet widely diffused in Val Gardena. Thus the coming up and the evolution of this traditional handcraft of the valley is the merit of these two families. Their striving for perfection as well as their studies at the side of sculptor masters and at art academies were decisive to define the cultural identity of Val Gardena’s handcraft.

In the course of years the number of sculptors rose, and in the second half of the 17th century there were already 50 sculptors in the valley. They created real masterpieces, which were above all intended for the churches.

As the inhabitants of the valley realized that wood carving could become an important source of income, many farmer families decided to manufacture wooden figures in series, both religious and sacral ones. As they did not possess a title of master craftsman, they specialized in the manufacture of toys or crib figurines.

But then the sale of art works on order stalled, while the export of wooden figures and toys spread also over Tyrol’s boundaries. In 1680, the exports went to Venice, Genoa, Lisbon, Vienna, Graz, Stuttgart, Düsseldorf, Cologne, Frankfurt and in other large European cities.

In 1788 there was a short crisis triggered by the Austrian government: a decree of Innsbruck imposed the reduction of the number of sculptors from 300 to 150, in order to protect the woods on Mount Rasciesa which had been randomly deforested in the previous years.

The people of Val Gardena were surprised and indignant. The municipality Ortisei reacted to it with the proposal, that the sculptors would pay the wood they need for their work themselves and that the decree should be withdrawn. The government supported the idea and withdraw the decree.

At the end of the 18th century, the manufacture of wooden toys, called chiena in Ladin, was the most important economic activity of the area. Unfortunately, there are just a few documents of this time to help understand how the idea to produce toys was born. A possible answer could be that the people of Val Gardena had the possibility to get to know the toys manufactured in the neighbouring regions through the continuous migrations.