The ethnological museum founded in 1976 is the oldest of the South Tyrolean provincial museums. In the splendid Val Pusteria country house Mair am Hof, which is first mentioned by several travel writers in the 19 century, and in the neighbouring open-air museum the side by side of the houses of nobility and of self-sufficient farmers and small holders displays tools and equipment and opens up an insight into the social history.

The beautiful museum near Brunico in Val Pusteria is an education trail through the history of culture of the simple peoples of South Tyrol and engages mainly with day-to-day work on the farm and in the fields.