Herzeliebez frouwelin, got gebe dir hiute und iemer guot! Kund ich baz gedenken din, des hete ich willeclichen muot. Waz mac ich dir sagen me, wan daz dir nieman holder ist? owe da von ist mir vil we.

“Herzeliebez vrouwelin“ is the most famous poem of the minnesang cantor Walther von der Vogelweide. His work is very well-known although his origins remain unknown. Some localities claim to be the birth-place of the artist but there is no proof whatsoever. It is possible to re-build his life through his art, and in light of this, it seems impossible that the Vogelweide farm house in Laion in South –Tyrol is really his place of origin. During the period of increasing irredentism between the Italian-speaking population of Tyrol (Trentino), the construction of the monument in 1889 represented a symbol of Germanic culture and history, a real homage to the medieval cantor. Shortly after the construction of the monument to Walther in Bolzano in 1889, even in Trentino the construction of the monument to Dante started and was inaugurated in 1896. The monument to Walther was made out of Lasa marble by Heinrich Natter (1844 Graun – 1892 Vienna), famous sculptor of that time, that was also the artist of other sculptures in Zurich, Vienna and Leipzig.