The Istitut Ladin Micurà de Rü is a government-financed cultural institute in South Tyrol

South Tyrol

South Tyrol , also known by its Italian name Alto Adige, is an autonomous province in northern Italy. It is one of the two autonomous provinces that make up the autonomous region of Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol. The province has an area of and a total population of more than 500,000 inhabitants...

, Italy

Italy

Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...

, tasked with preserving and promoting the Ladin language and culture.

Foundation and Name

The institute was set up by the Autonomous Province Bozen - South Tyrol on 31 July 1976 and formally started its activity on 3 September 1977 in the Ladin village San Martin de Tor

San Martin de Tor

San Martin de Tor is a comune in South Tyrol in the Italian region Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol, located about 90 km northeast of the city of Trento and about 45 km northeast of the city of Bolzano .-Geography:...

. The institute was named in honour of the Ladin linguist Micurà de Rü, who in 1833 published the first Ladin grammar "Versuch einer deütsch-ladinischen Sprachlehre".

The institutes main objectives are:

• to study scientifically the language, the history and the culture of the Ladin people.
• to promote the use and teaching of the Ladin language in cooperation with the schools in Ladin communes and the Ladin Pedagogical Institute.
• to preserve and cultivate the culture, customs and traditions, art and music of the Ladin people.
• to support all venues that help to preserve the oral and written Ladin language i.e. radio transmissions, newspapers, books, cultural and-or educational events.
• to set up an historical archive of the Ladin culture.
• to set up of a research library.
• to coordinate, cooperate and support the scientific work and research of the Ladin language and culture carried out by other universities and other research institutions.
• to improve the relationship and cultural exchange between the Ladins of the Dolomites
  Dolomites
  The Dolomites are a mountain range located in north-eastern Italy. It is a part of Southern Limestone Alps and extends from the River Adige in the west to the Piave Valley in the east. The northern and southern borders are defined by the Puster Valley and the Sugana Valley...
  
   and those of Graubünden
  Graubünden
  Graubünden or Grisons is the largest and easternmost canton of Switzerland. The canton shares borders with the cantons of Ticino, Uri, Glarus and St. Gallen and international borders with Italy, Austria and Liechtenstein...
  
   and Friuli
  Friuli
  Friuli is an area of northeastern Italy with its own particular cultural and historical identity. It comprises the major part of the autonomous region Friuli-Venezia Giulia, i.e. the province of Udine, Pordenone, Gorizia, excluding Trieste...
  
   regions.

Today

Today the institutes headquarters remains in San Martin de Tor and a branch has been opened in Sëlva

Sëlva

Sëlva is a comune in the Val Gardena in South Tyrol, northern Italy, located about 70 km northeast of the city of Trento and about 30 km east of the city of Bolzano.-Geography:...

 in the Val Gardena. The institutes task is to preserve, protect and promote the Ladin language and culture. To achieve its aims the institute cooperates with numerous national and international universities and supports scientific projects that focus on the Ladin language or culture. Since its founding the institute has published over 230 books in various languages about the Ladin language and culture.

Currently the institutes main projects are:

• the publication of Ladin vocabularies for the two main Ladin language varieties: the Badiot from the Val Badia and the Gherdëin from Val Gardena.
• the creation of an online database named "VoLaNet", which will aid in the coinage of neologisms and will be accessible to everyone.
• the creation of a detailed map of the Ladin valleys containing all Ladin toponyms.
• archaeological excavations on Plan de Frea and on Sotciastel (in the municipality of Santa Cristina Gherdëina), with the aim to learn more about the Ladin history prior to the beginning of the second millennium A.D.
• the creation of the "Linguistic Atlas of Dolomite Ladin and neighbouring dialects" based on vocabulary
  Vocabulary
  A person's vocabulary is the set of words within a language that are familiar to that person. A vocabulary usually develops with age, and serves as a useful and fundamental tool for communication and acquiring knowledge...
  
  , morphology
  Morphology (linguistics)
  In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis and description, in a language, of the structure of morphemes and other linguistic units, such as words, affixes, parts of speech, intonation/stress, or implied context...
  
   and syntax
  Syntax
  In linguistics, syntax is the study of the principles and rules for constructing phrases and sentences in natural languages....
  
  of the Ladin languages.
• and the support of cultural associations with the same aims as itself.

Other activities include: information, consulting and translations services, Ladin teaching courses, organization of scientific conferences, concerts, theatre presentations and art exhibitions, support on doctoral thesis and publication of the annual scientific journal Ladinia - sföi cultural dai ladins dles Dolomites.

External links

• Istitut Ladin Micurà de Rü Official website (in Ladin, Italian, German, English)