We woke to cold and rain this morning, so didn’t dress for a hot day, which was a mistake. Leaving the sunglasses behind was an even bigger mistake! The backpack was full of raincoats and umbrellas and jumpers which we didn’t need. Hats and sunglasses would have been better, as the sun soon came out and it became hot.
After breakfast, the bus took us along the valley of the River Inn to Innsbruck, a journey of just under an hour. Our guide told us that the name Innsbruck means the bridge over the River Inn. The river is a tributary of the Danube.
The bus drove us first to a stunning rococo church, Basilica Wilten, otherwise known as Our Lady under the Four Columns because of the picture over the main altar. This relates to a legend that Roman legionaries worshipped The Virgin on this site, and apparently there are the remains of a 5th century church under it. The existing church was built in 1751, and is the home of a famous choir, the Wilten Boys Choir.
Inside was amazing, like nothing I’ve seen since we visited Sicily, and not to my taste, though it was certainly stunning.
But I can appreciate the artistry and craftsmanship, even if I don’t like it. I preferred the plainer, more naïve paintings, which were votive offerings and were displayed in a side chapel.
We were then driven up to the ski jump used for the Winter Olympics. Unfortunately the traffic was moving fast and photos were not possible from where I was sitting. Paul managed one but it isn’t very clear. Somebody was jumping apparently, but I didn’t see it. I always seem to be on the wrong side of the bus.
Back down in the town, the bus parked outside the Hofgarten, the Imperial gardens. We walked through the gardens, which were very pretty with lovely flowers in places, and some beautiful huge trees, some of which been planted in the 1700s.
Outside the gardens, we saw the Leopold fountain, designed in 1621, with the figures cast in 1622, but not assembled until 1893.
What is remarkable about it is the fact that, unlike other equestrian statues, the rearing horse is balancing only on its hindquarters, not on its tail.
Opposite the fountain is the Imperial Palace, first built in 1460, enlarged 50 years later, modernised in the 1750s and further modernised 20 years later. Although baroque in the interior, the facade is still quite plain.
The tower you can see on the left with the cupola has an opening under it which leads into the old town. This is all that remains of one of the original gates into the town through the town walls.
The old town is picturesque, with many old buildings. This is the most well known one, which has become the emblem of Innsbruck. It is known as the Golden Roof.
It was commissioned to commemorate the marriage of the Emperor Maximilian to Bianca Sforza of Milan, and was completed 6 years later in 1500. It was used as a court balcony at tournaments, games and festivities in the city square. The lower reliefs are emblems of Austria and Hungary, the Holy Roman Empire, the German kingdom, Burgundy and Milan. The upper reliefs show Maximilian with both of his wives (Bianca was the second) and various court scenes. The loggia has painted scenes on the back wall, and the roof is covered with 2,600 gilded copper shingles.
Adjacent to the Golden Roof is the Helbling House.
This is a late gothic bourgeois house which was decorated with rococo stucco work in 1730. It’s certainly very striking.
I was also quite taken with the Goldener Adler Inn, where the names of famous guests are chiselled into marble, starting with Emperor Maximilian himself in 1494. Mozart visited in 1773, Paganini in 1828, and, somewhat more recently, Albert Camus in 1952, John Glenn in 1969 and John Paul Sartre in 1972.
After this tour, we had free time so we took the opportunity of going up the mountain side in the funicular to admire the views and find somewhere less crowded. The views were indeed spectacular, looking down over the town and the river Inn.
There is a cable car which goes much higher, but was extremely expensive and the return trip takes over two hours, and there were other things we wanted to see, so we decided we were high enough. We had a quick lunch, a little wander around to appreciate the Tyrolean buildings, then we came back down to visit the Folk Museum.
The Folk Museum was unexpectedly enjoyable. There was an old photographer's studio, with various canvas backgrounds of things like mountain or other outdoor scenes which you could stand in front of so it appeared you were having your photo taken outdoors. There was a large room of traditional Tyrolean costumes, including some wonderful hats. There were several rooms devoted to folk music, the musicians having become so popular that they travelled all round the world.
There were some amazing displays of fully assembled wood panelled Tyrolean sitting rooms called ‘stubes’.
This one had the most elaborate ceiling I have seen for a long time.
Our guide had recommended this museum, telling us that wooden rooms were easier to heat and that stoves were used for heating them. She said she had a stove in every room in her house and they burned wood. The rooms in this museum all had stoves, of varying different types. Some of the poorer rooms just had a simple clay cylinder called a barrel stove and one such simple stove had the bed built above it. We might all be resorting to measures like that this winter!
This is a more elaborate stove
This one is obviously from a very much richer family and is dated 1569.
The most touching part of the displays, called ‘the uncertainties of life’, stressed how close death was, especially to children. There were many votive offerings of wax babies, presumably because you could never be certain that your baby would live, or because you were so thankful it had survived the latest illness. I particularly liked the baby furniture.
That baby walker was dated around 1850! When I bought baby walkers for my own children, I had always thought they were a modern invention.
There were various dowry items, set on sledges ready to be pulled to the bride’s new home. This one is a painted bed head and foot.
What I particularly liked about the contents of this sledge was that it was a complete kit for a wife. You can see the bedhead and foot in this photo. What I could see when I went behind it was the rest of the kit - a spinning wheel and a cradle! I went behind it because there was a very comfy modern sofa there and my back was getting painful. So I was able to rest it while admiring the thoughtfulness of the new wife in providing most of what she though her husband would need from her. Only the cooking pots and plates were missing!
At the far end of this display of furniture and votive offerings was a door which opened automatically as you approached it, and led you into a gallery above the floor of the Imperial Church, the Hofkirche.
This church houses a very important work of the German Renaissance, the tomb built for the Emperor Maximilian and decorated with bronze figures. It was begun during his lifetime, but remains incomplete. It was actually built by Maximilian’s grandson between 1553 and 1563, but the weight of the statues was too great for the place where Maximilian is actually buried, so it is in fact an empty tomb.
Because I was taking the photo from above, you can’t see many of the 28 large statues. 40 were actually planned, as were 100 statuettes, though there are actually only 23. That’s Maximilian himself, kneeling on top of the tomb.
The roof of the church is also quite spectacular. We were up right behind the crucifix.
The gallery was quite narrow, and looked down on the tomb at one side and the altar at the other side. The organist was practicing a difficult piece at the time, repeating the hard bits until he got them right. It certainly enhanced our visit.
After this it was time to leave and be driven by the bus the 29 miles back to our hotel and our supper.
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