In honour of the linguist Micurà de Rü, the Ladin Culture Institute in San Martino in Badia bares his name
Micurà de Rü (Nikolaus Bacher) was born as youngest child of a peasant family on December 4, 1789, in the hamlet Rü in San Cassiano. After having finished school, Micurà started studying philosophy and theology in Innsbruck, Trento and Salzburg. On August 28, 1814, Micurà de Rü was ordained as a priest and spent his first years in different parishes in Austria. For a short period of time he also worked as a lector for the Italian language at the University of Innsbruck.
Moreover he was field chaplain in the military pastoral care and educator in a male educational institute in Milan. Beside his devotion as a priest, he dedicated himself to the Ladin language and above all to Ladin grammar. In 1833 he composed the first Ladin grammar book "Versuch einer deutsch-ladinischen Sprachlehre" to bring the language of the inhabitants of the Dolomites on a common denominator and to create a common basis for people who use of this language.
On March 19, 1847, after having suffered from a disease for a long period of time, Micurà de Rü died in Innsbruck. In his honour, the Ladin Culture Institute in San Martino in Badia bares his name. This Istitute Ladin Micurà de Rü, founded in 1976, is dedicated to the maintenance and promotion of the Ladin language and culture.
