St. Nikolaus, Mariahilf, Hötting and Mühlau

Wenn man so will, nahm Innsbruck im 12. Jahrhundert seinen Anfang bei den bunten Häusern am nördlichen Innufer. 1133 wurde in den heutigen Stadtteilen Mariahilf und St. Nikolaus von den Fürsten von Andechs ein Markt gegründet, von dem man in Urkunden als Ynbruggen spoke. As the town slowly moved across the Inn, the name "Inn" became established for the parts north of the bridge. Anpruggen. Even back then, Innsbruck was an important hub for trade. A considerable proportion of the goods traffic between the German lands in the north and the large Italian cities in the south travelled via Innsbruck. For a long time, the road led to the west via today's Schneeburggasse in Hötting, as the area of land in the valley, which is now the Höttinger Au, was a marshland. The Mariahilfstraße on the Inn was only opened up as a main transport route with the increase in trade in the 16th century, after Ferdinand II had the Kranewitter Allee built. Silver from Schwaz and salt from Hall were traded along the salt road towards Switzerland. Until 1837, the main road through the Obere Anpruggen officially as Obere Innbrückenstraße known. It was given the name Mariahilfstraße by the parish of the same name. It was not until the opening of the Kettenbrücke bridge in Saggen in the 19th century and the shift towards today's Rennweg and Innrain that Mariahilfstraße lost its importance as an arterial road.

The transport routes to the east led directly through today's St-Nikolaus-Gasse. For a very long time, St Nicholas was considered a wretched part of the city. It is no coincidence that the district bears the name of St Nicholas of Myra, as he was, among other things, the patron saint of those less favoured by life, such as prostitutes and criminals. St. Nicholas was home to everything that was not wanted in the city but was necessary for its functioning, such as the execution site, popularly known as Köpflplatz, and the penitentiary and workhouse. From the Middle Ages until 1789, the special sickhouse for people with infectious diseases such as the plague was located here. While the normal hospital was still in the immediate vicinity of the town, the infectious sick and the socially most vulnerable in society were kept further away from the centre. The Jewish cemetery was also located in St. Nikolaus am Judenbühel, just below the Alpine Zoo. The drinking water pipeline from the Nordkette, which was built under Maximilian in 1485 and fed Innsbruck's fountains, ran through St. Nikolaus. Innsbruck was very fortunate to have access to fresh drinking water from the nearby mountains. Until the drinking water pipeline was built, Innsbruck, like other towns, was dependent on the water in the fountains. The water was often stale and full of pathogens. It was not for nothing that beer and wine were considered safer everyday drinks than water.

The name Koatlackler für seine Anwohner kommt einerseits von den häufig überlaufenden Wasserleitungen, die die Stadt von den Bergen kommend versorgten, andererseits von Überschwemmungen und dem von der Stadt abgeleiteten, verschmutzten Wasser, das flussabwärts in St. Nikolaus landete, eben in der Koatlackn. Einen großen Teil zur Verunreinigung trugen auch die Metzger und die Fleischbank an der Innbrücke bei, die ihre Fleischabfälle im Inn entsorgten, der sie flussabwärts trug. Heute finden sich in den „bunten“ Stadtteilen Anpruggens, St. Nikolaus und Mariahilf, entlang des Inns viele Kneipen, Lokale und kleine Geschäfte.

Hötting was a village in its own right until it was incorporated in 1938. With its 8,000 inhabitants, it was one of the largest communities in Tyrol in the 20th century. The Allerheiligenhöfe and the Galgenbühel, next to the Köpflplatz at the eastern entrance to the city in St. Nikolaus, another execution site from days gone by, marked the western end of the community. Successful craft businesses were the reason for the self-confidence with which Höttinger confronted the city of Innsbruck. Economically, the village was on a par with the city for a long time. It was only with the development of the new Saggen district and the incorporation of Pradl and Wilten that Innsbruck finally overtook its often noisy neighbour from above.

The people of Hötting were always regarded as wild fellows. Höttinger children were considered bad company for the Innsbruck kids. In 1923, the newspaper reported:

"Recently, two pistols were taken from a 14-year-old boy in Schneeburggasse, with which he had allegedly amused himself by shooting sparrows. Shortly before, the dog of the tradesman Inwinkel had been shot in the square. The bullet penetrated the animal's head. As many children were playing in the square, it was fortunate that the shooting did not cause any major damage. The case is likely to have legal repercussions."

During industrialisation, workers from factories such as the Rauchmühle also settled in the village of Hötting. In contrast to the city with its employees in trade and administration, university professors, doctors and lawyers, craftsmen, gunsmiths, farmers and workers from the mine under the Hungerburg have always lived here. In the politically radical and heated climate of the interwar period, the village above Innsbruck was known as "Red Hötting". The Höttinger Saalschlacht of 1932, which enjoyed a legendary reputation in Innsbruck, also contributed to the neighbourhood's reputation as a hotbed of violence.

Neighbouring Mühlau to the east was a separate municipality until 1938 and, like Hötting, was known for its historically grown industry. The name and significance of the village originate from the farms and mills that had already settled along the Mühlbach stream in the Middle Ages. It was also this energy-supplying stream that helped Mühlau to experience its first industrial boom. A Sagmeister was first mentioned in 1312. In the 15th century, a plater's workshop producing ornate ceremonial armour was established to supply the European aristocracy that had settled in Innsbruck. This was later followed by a metal foundry and, for a short time, even the provincial mint, before the 19th century saw the Rauchmühle mill and power station, a sugar factory, a paper factory and Ferdinand Weyrer's company leave their mark on the community. On the village square in Mühlau, the village fountain with the cogwheel and an interesting relief by Johannes Obleitner are reminders of the connection between rural and industrial life in the village. The façade of the former Koreth Inn is just as worth seeing as the old primary school. At Holzgasse 10, you can admire the old power station of the municipality of Mühlau.

The western part of Mühlau along Holzgasse and Richardsweg is home to some of Innsbruck's most beautiful farmhouses and villas. Elevated above the town, the lesser nobility had a series of residences built, which were later adopted by the upper middle classes. Perhaps the most beautiful example of this is the mansion renovated in 1904. Residence Sonnenheim on Richardsweg. The striking Tyrolean-style villa still resembles a castle thanks to its tower. The façades feature paintings by the famous Pradl painter Raphael Thaler.

For some time, Mühlau was also the site of a spa centre. What would be unthinkable today worked in 19th century Innsbruck. A few metres from the textile factory was the Badehaus Mühlau, a spa hotel. Innsbruck was now well connected to the railway network and easily accessible for guests. The mountain panorama that guests enjoyed exuded alpine charm and, unlike in remote places such as Davos, allowed travellers and their companions who were not exclusively interested in health to enjoy a little urban distraction between treatments, as was reported in the magazine Der Alpenfreund in 1870:

"But if the alpine lover is blessed with a family, there is no need to worry about the possible nervous conditions and seizures of his dear wife or the scrophulic ailments of one of his children to prevent him from breathing out all the worries and cares and complaints of business life in the nearby mountains. He just takes his loved ones with him to Mühlau, leaves the healing confidently to the care of the owner of the aforementioned establishment, Dr Schlechter, who will know how to achieve his healing purposes with cold water cures, brine baths, gymnastics and electro-magnetism, and - walk confidently towards heaven on the mountains himself! (Note: quoted from sagen.at)"

Today, the Mühlau bathhouse at Anton-Rauch-Straße 30 is a residential building worth seeing that has been architecturally preserved in the style of the 19th century. Today, Hötting and Mühlau are middle-class neighbourhoods where neither magnetic treatments are administered nor subversive dangers threaten.