Cycle of the months

The Cycle of the Months is a fresco series in Eagle Tower with twelve painted sections showing rural work and seasonal changes through the year. Each section depicts detailed scenes of farm activities and medieval daily life, with people working and living according to the time of year.

Artist Venceslao created this fresco cycle around 1400 for Prince-Bishop George of Liechtenstein, who used the tower as a private retreat. The work came at a time when such large painted cycles were becoming popular in northern Italy and reshaping artistic practice.

Each panel shows the contrast between social classes, with noblemen in fine clothes alongside farmworkers doing seasonal tasks. The paintings reveal how hierarchical society was and how differently people lived their daily lives.

To view the frescoes, join a guided visit to Eagle Tower where you'll be led to the dedicated room on the second floor. Wear comfortable shoes and allow enough time to look carefully at each month's scene and discover the small details painted throughout.

Eleven of the original twelve panels survive today, while the March scene was destroyed in the sixteenth century when a wooden spiral staircase was built inside the room. This loss makes the surviving paintings even more precious, as they tell only a partial story of what once covered all four walls.