Claudiaplatz
Claudiaplatz
Worth knowing
Die Zeit um 1900 brachte eine neue, globalisierte Welt hervor. Telegrafie und Telefon ermöglichten die schnellere Verbreitung von Neuigkeiten, was zu einer „Gleichzeitigkeit“ zwischen Geschehenem und Berichterstattung in den Medien führte. Genau andersrum funktionierte die Unterhaltungsbranche. Kino und Grammophon ermöglichten es erstmals einem größeren Publikum Geschehenes zu speichern und „ungleichzeitig“ zu konsumieren. Wirtschaft und Handel waren auf einem nie vorher gesehenen Niveau angelangt und weltweit verstrickt. Freud und Nietzsche brachten in Medizin und Philosophie neue Perspektiven ein, die zwar nicht von der breiten Masse, dank der neuen Möglichkeiten aber immer größer werdenden Publikum rezipiert wurden. Robert Musil, Stefan Zweig, Klimt, Kokoschka, Schiele, Mahler, Wagner, Schönberg und Freud prägen ein nostalgisches Bild Wiens und Österreichs dieser Zeit im Ausland bis heute. Innsbruck war nicht Wien und das
Innsbruck was not Vienna and that Fin de Siecle was not as celebrated in Tyrol as it was in Paris, but the bourgeoisie of the Alpine region was influenced by the European one. While nations were increasingly moving away from each other politically, architecture in many European cities was converging. The new bourgeois elites in Buenos Aires, Madrid, London, New York and Vienna had discovered historicism for themselves. Innsbruck was no exception. You can experience a little of the flair of this period around Claudiaplatz.
This city centre roundabout, which was named after Claudia de Medici, is one of many examples of the architecture of the Belle Epoque und bildet bis heute so etwas wie das Zentrum des Stadtteils Saggen. Er grenzt den „Villensaggen" in the north-west of the "Blocksaggen“ mit den Mietshäusern im Osten des Stadtteils ab. Nicht nur architektonisch, auch sozial bildete der Claudiaplatz schon immer eine Art Grenze. Während sich in den Wohnblöcken des Blocksaggen While small employees settled in the neighbourhood, the upper middle classes resided in the villas.
The colonisation of Saggen using the example of Claudiaplatz is an example of Innsbruck's property industry and speculation, which began early on. Claudiaplatz 1 and 2 and Elisabethstraße number 11 were built from 1898 by the German "Property developer" Reinhold Boos financed the project. He had the stately residences with up to seven flats built for a wealthy clientele. The magnificent houses have a trapezoidal floor plan and are charmingly decorated with bay windows and exuberant ornamentation. Even the staircases, which were built in the Wilhelminian era, were small works of art and were intended to set the mood for the flats and the ambience.
Five streets lead into the Claudiaplatz roundabout. To the west of the square, Elisabethstraße leads into the residential neighbourhood, while Kaiser-Franz-Josef-Straße, with its charming green central strip, is lined with larger residential buildings that are also worth seeing. The house at Conradstraße 6, just a few metres from Claudiaplatz, is particularly noteworthy. The quarry owner Josef Leutsch had the architect Josef Mayr design this Art Nouveau-style house for him. Claudiastrasse leads into the square opposite. The colourful houses in this row are a popular photo motif from the square's roundabout. The milieu in this part of Innsbruck, consisting of academics and freelancers who were attracted to it, has to a certain extent remained dynastic to this day.
Klingler, Huter, Retter & Co: master builders of expansion
The last decades of the 19th century were characterised Wilhelminian style in the history of Austria. After an economic crisis in 1873, the city began to expand during the economic upswing. From 1880 to 1900, Innsbruck's population grew from 20,000 to 26,000. Wilten, which was incorporated in 1904, tripled from 4,000 to 12,000. The infrastructure also changed as a result of technical innovations. Gas, water and electricity became part of everyday life for more and more people. The old town hospital gave way to the new hospital. The orphanage and the Sieberers asylum for the elderly were built in Saggen.
The buildings that were constructed in the young neighbourhoods were a reflection of a new society. Entrepreneurs, freelancers, employees and workers with political voting rights developed different needs than subjects without this right. Unlike in rural Tyrol, where farming families lived in farmhouses together with farmhands and maidservants as a clan, life in the city came close to the family life we know today. The living space had to correspond to this. The lifestyle of city dwellers demanded multi-room flats and open spaces for relaxation after work. The wealthy middle classes, consisting of entrepreneurs and freelancers, had not yet overtaken the aristocracy, but they had narrowed the gap. They were the ones who not only commissioned private building projects, but also decided on public buildings through their position on the local council.
The 40 years before the First World War were a kind of gold-rush period for construction companies, craftsmen, master builders and architects. The buildings reflected the world view of their clients. Master builders combined several roles and often replaced the architect. Most clients had very clear ideas about what they wanted. They were not to be breathtaking new creations, but copies and references to existing buildings. In keeping with the spirit of the times, the Innsbruck master builders designed buildings in the styles of historicism, classicism and Tyrolean Heimatstil in accordance with the wishes of their financially strong clients. Clear forms, statues and columns were style-defining elements in the construction of new buildings. The ideas that people had of classical Greece and ancient Rome were realised in a sometimes wild mix of styles. Not only railway stations and public buildings, but also large apartment blocks and entire streets, even churches and cemeteries were built along the old corridors in this design. The upper middle classes showed their penchant for antiquity with neoclassical façades. Catholic traditionalists had images of saints and depictions of Tyrol's regional history painted on the walls of their Heimatstil houses. While neoclassicism dominates in Saggen and Wilten, most of the buildings in Pradl are in the conservative Heimatstil style.
The era of large villas, which imitated the aristocratic residences of days gone by with a bourgeois touch, came to an end after a few wild decades due to a lack of space. Further development of the urban area with individual houses was no longer possible, the space had become too narrow. In 1898, the municipal council decided to authorise only blocks of flats east of Claudiastrasse instead of the villas in the spacious cottage style. The Falkstrasse / Gänsbachstrasse / Bienerstrasse area is still regarded as the Villensaggenthe areas to the east as Blocksaggen. In Wilten and Pradl, this type of development did not even occur. Nevertheless, master builders sealed more and more ground in the gold rush. Albert Gruber gave a cautionary speech on this growth in 1907, in which he warned against uncontrolled growth in urban planning and land speculation.
"It is the most difficult and responsible task facing our city fathers. Up until the 1980s (note: 1880), let's say in view of our circumstances, a certain slow pace was maintained in urban expansion. Since the last 10 years, however, it can be said that cityscapes have been expanding at a tremendous pace. Old houses are being torn down and new ones erected in their place. Of course, if this demolition and construction is carried out haphazardly, without any thought, only for the benefit of the individual, then disasters, so-called architectural crimes, usually occur. In order to prevent such haphazard building, which does not benefit the general public, every city must ensure that individuals cannot do as they please: the city must set a limit to unrestricted speculation in the area of urban expansion. This includes above all land speculation."
A handful of master builders and the Innsbruck building authority accompanied this development in Innsbruck. If Wilhelm Greil is described as the mayor of the expansion, the Viennese-born Eduard Klingler (1861 - 1916) probably deserves the title of its architect. Klingler played a key role in shaping Innsbruck's cityscape in his role as a civil servant and master builder. He began working for the state of Tyrol in 1883. In 1889, he joined the municipal building department, which he headed from 1902. In Innsbruck, the commercial academy, the Leitgebule school, the Pradl cemetery, the dermatological clinic in the hospital area, the municipal kindergarten in Michael-Gaismair-Straße, the Trainkaserne (note: today a residential building), the market hall and the Tyrolean State Conservatory are all attributable to Klingler as head of the building department. The Ulrichhaus on Mount Isel, which is now home to the Alt-Kaiserjäger-Club, is a building worth seeing in the Heimatstil style based on his design.
Perhaps the most important construction office in Innsbruck was Johann Huter & Sons. Johann Huter took over his father's small construction business. In 1856, he acquired the first company premises, the Hutergründeon the Innrain. Three years later, the first prestigious headquarters were built in Meranerstraße. The company registration together with his sons Josef and Peter in 1860 marked the official start of the company that still exists today. Huter & Söhne like many of its competitors, saw itself as a complete service provider. The company had its own brickworks, a cement factory, a joinery and a locksmith's shop as well as a planning office and the actual construction company. In 1906/07, the Huters built their own company headquarters at Kaiser-Josef-Straße 15 in the typical style of the last pre-war years. The stately house combines the Tyrolean Heimatstil surrounded by gardens and nature with neo-Gothic and neo-Romanesque elements. Famous from Huter & Söhne buildings in Innsbruck include the Monastery of Perpetual Adoration, the parish church of St Nicholas and several buildings on Claudiaplatz.
The second big player was Josef Retter. Born in Tyrol, he grew up in the Wachau region. In his early youth, he completed an apprenticeship as a bricklayer before he left the k.k. State Trade School in Vienna and attended the foreman's school in the building trade department. After gaining professional experience in Vienna, Croatia and Bolzano throughout the Danube Monarchy, he was able to open his own construction company in Innsbruck at the age of 29 thanks to his wife's dowry. Like Huter, his company also included a sawmill, a sand and gravel works and a workshop for stonemasonry work. In 1904, he opened his residential and office building at Schöpfstraße 23a, which is still used today as a Rescuer's house is well known. With a new building for the Academic Grammar School and the castle-like school building for the Commercial Academy and the Evangelical Church of Christ in Saggen, the stately Sonnenburg in Wilten and the neo-Gothic Mentlberg Castle on Sieglanger, he realised some of Innsbruck's most outstanding buildings of the period to this day.
Late in life but with a similarly practice-orientated background that was typical of 19th century master builders, Anton Fritz started his construction company in 1888. He grew up remotely in Graun in the Vinschgau Valley. After working as a foreman, plasterer and bricklayer, he decided to attend the trade school in Innsbruck at the age of 36. Talent and luck brought him his breakthrough as a planner with the country-style villa at Karmelitergasse 12. In its heyday, his construction company employed 150 people. In 1912, shortly before the outbreak of the First World War and the resulting slump in the construction industry, he handed over his company to his son Adalbert. Anton Fritz's legacy includes his own home at Müllerstraße 4 as well as houses on Claudiaplatz and Sonnenburgplatz.
With Carl Kohnle, Carl Albert, Karl Lubomirski and Simon Tommasi, Innsbruck had other master builders who immortalised themselves in the cityscape with buildings typical of the late 19th century. They all made Innsbruck's new streets shine in the prevailing architectural zeitgeist of the last 30 years of the Danube Monarchy. Residential buildings, railway stations, official buildings and churches in the vast empire between the Ukraine and Tyrol looked similar across the board. New trends such as Art Nouveau emerged only hesitantly. In Innsbruck, it was the Munich architect Josef Bachmann who set a new accent in civic design with the redesign of the façade of the Winklerhaus. Building activity came to a halt at the beginning of the First World War. After the war, the era of neoclassical historicism and Heimatstil was finally history. Walks in Saggen and parts of Wilten and Pradl take you back to the Wilhelminian era. Claudiaplatz and Sonnenburgplatz are among the most impressive examples. The building company Huter and Sons still exists today. The company is now located in Sieglanger in Josef-Franz-Huter-Straße, named after the company founder.
March 1848... and what it brought
The year 1848 occupies a mythical place in European history. Although the hotspots were not to be found in secluded Tyrol, but in the major metropolises such as Paris, Vienna, Budapest, Milan and Berlin, even in the Holy Land however, the revolutionary year left its mark. In contrast to the rural surroundings, an enlightened educated middle class had developed in Innsbruck. Enlightened people no longer wanted to be subjects of a monarch or sovereign, but citizens with rights and duties towards the state. Students and freelancers demanded political participation, freedom of the press and civil rights. Workers demanded better wages and working conditions. The omnipotence of the church was called into question.
In March 1848, this socially and politically highly explosive mixture erupted in riots in many European cities. In Innsbruck, students and professors celebrated the newly enacted freedom of the press with a torchlight procession. On the whole, however, the revolution proceeded calmly in the leisurely Tyrol. It would be foolhardy to speak of a spontaneous outburst of emotion; the date of the procession was postponed from 20 to 21 March due to bad weather. There were hardly any anti-Habsburg riots or attacks; a stray stone thrown into a Jesuit window was one of the highlights of the Alpine version of the 1848 revolution. The students even helped the city magistrate to monitor public order in order to show their gratitude to the monarch for the newly granted freedoms and their loyalty.
The initial enthusiasm for bourgeois achievements was quickly replaced by German nationalist, patriotic fervour in Innsbruck. On 6 April 1848, the German flag was waved by the governor of Tyrol during a ceremonial procession. A German flag was also raised on the city tower. Tricolour was hoisted. While students, workers, liberal-nationalist-minded citizens, republicans, supporters of a constitutional monarchy and Catholic conservatives disagreed on social issues such as freedom of the press, they shared a dislike of the Italian independence movement that had spread from Piedmont and Milan to northern Italy. Innsbruck students and marksmen marched to Trentino with the support of the k.k. The Innsbruck students and riflemen moved into Trentino to nip the unrest and uprisings in the bud. Well-known members of this corps were Father Haspinger, who had already fought with Andreas Hofer in 1809, and Adolf Pichler.
The city of Innsbruck, as the political and economic centre of the multinational crown land of Tyrol and home to many Italian speakers, also became the arena of this nationality conflict. Combined with copious amounts of alcohol, anti-Italian sentiment in Innsbruck posed more of a threat to public order than civil liberties. A quarrel between a German-speaking craftsman and an Italian-speaking Ladin got so heated that it almost led to a pogrom against the numerous businesses and restaurants owned by Italian-speaking Tyroleans.
The relative tranquillity of Innsbruck suited the imperial house, which was under pressure. When things did not stop boiling in Vienna even after March, Emperor Ferdinand fled to Tyrol in May. According to press reports from this time, he was received enthusiastically by the population.
"Wie heißt das Land, dem solche Ehre zu Theil wird, wer ist das Volk, das ein solches Vertrauen genießt in dieser verhängnißvollen Zeit? Stützt sich die Ruhe und Sicherheit hier bloß auf die Sage aus alter Zeit, oder liegt auch in der Gegenwart ein Grund, auf dem man bauen kann, den der Wind nicht weg bläst, und der Sturm nicht erschüttert? Dieses Alipenland heißt Tirol, gefällts dir wohl? Ja, das tirolische Volk allein bewährt in der Mitte des aufgewühlten Europa die Ehrfurcht und Treue, den Muth und die Kraft für sein angestammtes Regentenhaus, während ringsum Auflehnung, Widerspruch. Trotz und Forderung, häufig sogar Aufruhr und Umsturz toben; Tirol allein hält fest ohne Wanken an Sitte und Gehorsam, auf Religion, Wahrheit und Recht, während anderwärts die Frechheit und Lüge, der Wahnsinn und die Leidenschaften herrschen anstatt folgen wollen. Und während im großen Kaiserreiche sich die Bande überall lockern, oder gar zu lösen drohen; wo die Willkühr, von den Begierden getrieben, Gesetze umstürzt, offenen Aufruhr predigt, täglich mit neuen Forderungen losgeht; eigenmächtig ephemere- wie das Wetter wechselnde Einrichtungen schafft; während Wien, die alte sonst so friedliche Kaiserstadt, sich von der erhitzten Phantasie der Jugend lenken und gängeln läßt, und die Räthe des Reichs auf eine schmähliche Weise behandelt, nach Laune beliebig, und mit jakobinischer Anmaßung, über alle Provinzen verfügend, absetzt und anstellt, ja sogar ohne Ehrfurcht, den Kaiaer mit Sturm-Petitionen verfolgt; während jetzt von allen Seiten her Deputationen mit Ergebenheits-Addressen mit Bittgesuchen und Loyalitätsversicherungen dem Kaiser nach Innsbruck folgen, steht Tirol ganz ruhig, gleich einer stillen Insel, mitten im brausenden Meeressturme, und des kleinen Völkchens treue Brust bildet, wie seine Berge und Felsen, eine feste Mauer in Gesetz und Ordnung, für den Kaiser und das Vaterland."
In June, Franz Josef also stopped off at the Hofburg on his way back from the battlefields of northern Italy instead of travelling directly to Vienna. Innsbruck was once again the royal seat, if only for one summer.
In the same year, Ferdinand handed over the throne to Franz Josef I. In July 1848, the first parliamentary session was held in the Court Riding School in Vienna. A first constitution was enacted. However, the monarchy's desire for reform quickly waned. The new parliament was an imperial council, it could not pass any binding laws, the emperor never attended it during his lifetime and did not understand why the Danube Monarchy, as a divinely appointed monarchy, needed this council.
Nevertheless, the liberalisation that had been gently set in motion took its course in the cities. Innsbruck was given the status of a town with its own statute. Innsbruck's municipal law provided for a right of citizenship that was linked to ownership or the payment of taxes, but legally guaranteed certain rights to members of the community. Birthright citizenship could be acquired by birth, marriage or extraordinary conferment and at least gave male adults the right to vote at municipal level. If you got into financial difficulties, you had the right to basic support from the town.
On 2 June 1848, the first issue of the liberal and pro-German Innsbrucker Zeitung was published, from which the above article on the arrival of the Emperor in Innsbruck is taken. The previously abolished censorship was partially reintroduced. Newspaper publishers had to undergo some harassment by the authorities. Newspapers were not allowed to write against the provincial government, the monarchy or the church.
"Anyone who, by means of printed matter, incites, instigates or attempts to incite others to take action which would bring about the violent separation of a part from the unified state... of the Austrian Empire... or the general Austrian Imperial Diet or the provincial assemblies of the individual crown lands.... Imperial Diet or the Diet of the individual Crown Lands... violently disrupts... shall be punished with severe imprisonment of two to ten years."
After Innsbruck officially replaced Meran as the provincial capital in 1849 and thus finally became the political centre of Tyrol, political parties were formed. From 1868, the liberal and Greater German orientated party provided the mayor of the city of Innsbruck. The influence of the church declined in Innsbruck in contrast to the surrounding communities. Individualism, capitalism, nationalism and consumerism stepped into the breach. New worlds of work, department stores, theatres, cafés and dance halls did not supplant religion in the city either, but the emphasis changed as a result of the civil liberties won in 1848.
Perhaps the most important change to the law was the Basic relief patent. In Innsbruck, the clergy, above all Wilten Abbey, held a large proportion of the peasant land. The church and nobility were not subject to taxation. In 1848/49, manorial rule and servitude were abolished in Austria. Land rents, tithes and roboters were thus abolished. The landlords received one third of the value of their land from the state as part of the land relief, one third was regarded as tax relief and one third of the relief had to be paid by the farmers themselves. The farmers could pay off this amount in instalments over a period of twenty years.
The after-effects can still be felt today. The descendants of the then successful farmers enjoy the fruits of prosperity through inherited land ownership, which can be traced back to the land relief of 1848, as well as political influence through land sales for housing construction, leases and public sector redemptions for infrastructure projects. The land-owning nobles of the past had to resign themselves to the ignominy of pursuing middle-class labour. The transition from birthright to privileged status within society was often successful thanks to financial means, networks and education. Many of Innsbruck's academic dynasties began in the decades after 1848.
The hitherto unknown phenomenon of leisure time emerged, albeit sparsely for the most part, and, together with disposable income, favoured hobbies for a larger number of people. Civil organisations and clubs, from reading circles to singing societies, fire brigades and sports clubs, were founded. The revolutionary year also manifested itself in the cityscape. Parks such as the English Garden at Ambras Castle were no longer the exclusive preserve of the aristocracy, but served as recreational areas for the citizens to escape their cramped existence. In St. Nikolaus, Waltherpark was created on the site of the raft landing stage on the Inn.
Leopold V & Claudia de Medici: Glamour and splendour in Innsbruck
One of the most famous and, for Innsbruck, most important princely couples ruled Tyrol at the very time when the Thirty Years' War was devastating Europe. When Maximilian III of Austria died childless, a replacement was needed as governor of Tyrol. The Habsburg Leopold (1586 - 1632), who was still Bishop of Passau in 1618, was chosen to take over the affairs of state. In 1625, Leopold, who had meanwhile been elevated to Duke, renounced his ecclesiastical dignities in order to marry and found a new Tyrolean line of the House of Habsburg. Claudia de Medici (1604 - 1648) from the powerful and rich princely family from Tuscany was chosen as his bride. The Medici had made a fortune in the cotton and textile trade, but above all in financial transactions, and had risen to political power. The wedding celebrations of the Habsburgs and Medici were one of the most magnificent festivities in the city's history and kept the city in suspense for a fortnight. The bridal couple entered the city in a long procession through two specially erected gates. A wide-ranging entertainment programme, including "Bears, Turks and Moors" sent Innsbruck into raptures and amazement.
Under the Medici, Florence had become the cultural and financial centre of Europe, comparable to New York in the 20th century. Despite its status as a royal seat, Innsbruck could not compete with this, even though Leopold did everything in his power to change this. Swearing, shouting and the use of firearms in the streets were banned, as was the free roaming of farm animals within the city limits. Litter, which was a particular problem when there was no rain and no water flowing through the sewer system, was regularly cleaned up by princely decree.
The couple's reign, which was characterised by the turmoil of the Thirty Years' War, was less splendid than their idea of a royal seat. Although Innsbruck was spared direct acts of war, the supply situation was nevertheless precarious. Leopold and Claudia only allowed their glamourous court life to be limited by this.
After Leopold's early death, Claudia ruled the country with the help of her court chancellor Wilhelm Biener (1590 - 1651) with modern, early absolutist policies and a strict hand. Biener centralised parts of the administration and disempowered the often corrupt and arbitrary local petty nobility in favour of the prince in order to finance the expansion of the Tyrolean defence system. The Swedes, who were notorious for their brutality, threatened the Tyrolean borders, but could thus be repelled. Defence fortifications were built near Scharnitz on today's German border and named after the sovereign princess Porta Claudia called. Remains of it can still be seen today. The uncomfortable Biener was recognised by Claudia's successor, Archduke Ferdinand Karl, and the provincial estates as a Persona non grata imprisoned and beheaded in 1651 after a show trial.
A touch of Florence and Medici still characterises Innsbruck today: both the Jesuit church, where Claudia and Leopold found their final resting place, and the Mariahilf parish church still bear the coat of arms of their family with the red balls and lilies. The Old Town Hall in the old town centre is also known as Claudiana known. The theatre in Innsbruck is particularly associated with Leopold's name to this day, and a fountain on the forecourt commemorates him. A street name in Saggen was dedicated to Chancellor Wilhelm Biener.