about 20 years ago, when architect adolf loos came onto the scene with the house on michaelerplatz in vienna, with its completely bare façade wall, in which only the square window holes were cut, a storm of indignation roared through the viennese art and lay world (there was a heated "loos house debate" in the viennese city council). i myself, although i had a prominent leader of modern austrian art as a teacher, could not initially warm to this architectural sobriety - today we say objectivity - either. there was no lack of mockers of this latest architecture, as it was written in a major viennese daily newspaper at the time: the most modern of architects walked through the streets of vienna brooding over art - loos was pictured below, standing in front of a canal grating and staring at it, and found what he had been searching for in vain for so long.

what was then considered an outburst of artlessness and was declared impossible by the public, the authorities and the press, is now taken for granted to an even greater extent by the public in all major cities in germany and france. even in innsbruck, some new buildings and conversions (tower block, farmhouse, etc.) have been built from this new point of view of practicality.) have emerged from this new point of view of objectivity. soon we will also have become friends with the clock, which shows only single strokes instead of numerals, and it will only be a matter of time before - just like the loos' purpose manifestation and the abstraction of the hour digits - only lower case letters will be used in our writing for rational and economic reasons. apart from the fact that such an implementation in german writing is not really new at all, but merely a regeneration, and that lower-case writing exists in many foreign languages without any signs of inadequacy, it would certainly be accepted by the business world without resistance (just think of the simplification of typewriter manipulation and typesetting work, the simplicity of language teaching, etc.).

what seemed outrageous to us art disciples at the time in our generally school-educated obsession with architectural finery due to the sensible but revolutionary idea of loos' house was soon brightened up by inner realisation. when i walked through the streets of innsbruck 10 years ago, coming from vienna, i already had the silent wish to see all the superfluous, meaningless, heavy cornices and stucco decorations with which our newer houses (anichstrasse, bürgerstrasse, etc.) are "stuck on" and "decorated" knocked down - which, by the way, happened after a few years in individual places (post office building, farmhouse, etc.).

the disapproval of bare wall surfaces that is so often expressed in the judgement of buildings at present is a natural, reactionary feeling of our spoilt eye, which sees the streets predominantly overloaded with heavy cornices and window frames. therefore, the strict rejection of the new architecture, unless it shows obvious violations of reason and taste, is also very unfair. one must not forget that the non-expert and the average person, even some artists, are mostly conventionally biased in their judgement and therefore cannot claim to be truly objective.

in order not to be misunderstood, i must expressly state at this point that, when it comes to the external design of residential buildings, i am resolutely opposed to the uniform bleakness of factory construction, which is also largely reflected in the tower block. we have plenty of examples in tyrol's old towns that show how a certain warmth and individuality can be achieved even with the simplest of designs. let us now try to judge the skyscraper from the spirit of our time. in doing so, however, we must free ourselves as far as possible from the ban of certain traditional views in order to exclude those one-sided judgements that no longer have any inner justification today. weren't the painters courbet and delacroix labelled as "not classical", leibl and liebermann as "too naturalistic" due to the public's habitual adherence to traditional aesthetic principles? and what did richard wagner's art have to suffer? of course a real, true critic must above all have a clear eye and a healthy sensibility coupled with reason and know how to defend himself against the artistic distortions and gimmicks of all "progressive" artists who try to pretend their work is visionary.

finally, let us remember that it is not a question of whether a building is good or bad, not of horizontal windows or a flat roof, nor of decorative romanticism or machine fanaticism, but of the honest, truly forward-looking attitude of an architect. welzenbacher is currently building in a modern Nordic style and has achieved the best success with it. his style was well received in germany and he was appointed there. it is therefore not surprising that the tower block, as a proud representative of the metropolitan architecture of the lowlands, does not fit into our mountain world - this is perhaps the greatest weakness of the building.

as i said, the essential thing about this high-rise issue is not so much whether or not the high-rise fits in with tirol, nor even the few fanciful additions, but the act that contributes to the emergence of a new style.

The caesura of the First World War not only changed Innsbruck economically and socially, but also gave the city a new appearance. The visual arts reinvented themselves after the horrors of war. The classicism of the turn of the century was the architecture of a bourgeoisie that had tried to imitate the nobility. After the war, many citizens blamed this aristocracy for the horrors on the battlefields of Europe. Even before the war, sport and the phenomenon of leisure had become the expression of a new bourgeois self-image in contrast to the old order determined by the aristocracy. From now on, buildings and infrastructure were to serve every citizen equally. Aristocratic virtues and interest in classical antiquity had lost their lustre within a very short space of time.

The architects of the post-war period wanted to distinguish themselves from previous generations in terms of appearance, while at the same time maximising the functionality of the buildings. The end of the monarchy is reflected in the simplicity of the architecture. Lois Welzenbacher wrote about the architectural aberrations of this period in an article in the magazine Tiroler Hochland in 1920:

"As far as we can judge today, it is clear that the 19th century lacked the strength to create its own distinct style. It is the age of stillness... Thus details were reproduced with historical accuracy, mostly without any particular meaning or purpose, and without a harmonious overall picture that would have arisen from factual or artistic necessity."

New forms of design such as the Bauhaus style from Weimar, high-rise buildings from the USA and Soviet Modernism from the revolutionary USSR found their way into design, construction and craftsmanship. The best-known Tyrolean representatives of this new way of designing public spaces were Siegfried Mazagg, Theodor Prachensky, Clemens Holzmeister and Lois Welzenbacher. Each of these architects had their own specialities, making it difficult to clearly define Tyrolean Modernism. Buildings such as the Innsbruck power station in Salurnerstrasse or the Adambräu near the railway station were striking buildings, not only of unprecedented height, but also in a completely new style. Despite all the enthusiasm for the dawn of new times, there was also a current of thought that is problematic for those of us born later. Filippo Tommaso Marinetti's Futurism not only exerted a great attraction on Italian fascism, but also on many representatives of modernist art and architecture.

The best-known and most impressive representative of the so-called Tiroler Moderne was Franz Baumann (1892 - 1974). Baumann was born in Innsbruck in 1892, the son of a postal clerk. The theologian, publicist and war propagandist Anton Müllner, alias Brother Willram, became aware of Franz Baumann's talent as a draughtsman and at the age of 14 enabled the young man to attend the Staatsgewerbeschule, today's HTL. It was here that he met his future brother-in-law Theodor Prachensky. Together with Baumann's sister Maria, the two young men went on excursions in the area around Innsbruck to paint pictures of the mountains and nature. During his school years, he gained his first professional experience as a bricklayer at the construction company Huter & Söhne, which was responsible for major projects in Innsbruck such as the Monastery of Perpetual Adoration and the Church of St Nicholas. In 1910, Baumann followed his friend Prachensky to Merano to work for the company Musch & Lun. At the time, Merano was Tyrol's most important tourist resort with international spa guests. The predominant styles were Art Nouveau and Historicism. Under the architect Adalbert Erlebach, he gained his first experience in the planning of large-scale projects such as hotels and cable cars.

Like the majority of his generation, the First World War tore Baumann from his professional and everyday life. On the Italian front, he was shot in the stomach while fighting, from which he recovered in a military hospital in Prague. During this otherwise idle time, he painted cityscapes of buildings in and around Prague. These pictures, which would later help him to visualise his plans, were presented in his only exhibition in 1919.

After returning home from the war, Baumann worked at Grissemann & Walch and completed his professional qualification. Unlike Holzmeister or Welzenbacher, he had no academic training. In his spare time, he regularly took part in public tenders for public projects.

His big breakthrough came in the second half of the 1920s. Baumann was able to win the tenders for the remodelling of the Weinhaus Happ in the old town and the Nordkettenbahn railway. In addition to his creativity and ability to think holistically, he was also able to harmonise his approach with the legal situation and the requirements of the tenders of the 1920s. According to the federal constitution of the Republic of Austria, construction was a state matter. Since the previous year, the Tyrolean Heritage Protection Association Together with the district authority, it was the final authority responsible for the assessment and approval of construction projects. Kunibert Zimmeter had already founded the association in 1908 together with Gotthard Graf Trapp. Zimmeter wrote in his book "Our Tyrol. A heritage book":

"Let us look at the flattening of our private lives, our amusements, at the centre of which, significantly, is the cinema, at the literary ephemera of our newspaper reading, at the hopeless and costly excesses of fashion in the field of women's clothing, let us take a look at our homes with the miserable factory furniture and all the dreadful products of our so-called gallantry goods industry, Things that thousands of people work to produce, creating worthless bric-a-brac in the process, or let us look at our apartment blocks and villas with their cement façades simulating palaces, countless superfluous towers and gables, our hotels with their pompous façades, what a waste of the people's wealth, what an abundance of tastelessness we must find there."

Nature and townscape should be protected from overly fashionable trends, excessive tourism and ugly industrial buildings. Building projects were to be integrated harmoniously, attractively and appropriately into the environment. Despite the social and artistic innovations of the time, architects had to bear in mind the typical character of the region.

After the First World War, a new class of customers and guests emerged that placed new demands on buildings and therefore on the construction industry. In many Tyrolean villages, hotels had replaced churches as the largest building in the townscape. Mountain villages such as Igls, Seefeld and St. Anton were completely remodelled by tourism, and in Innsbruck a new district was created with the Hungerburg. The aristocratic distance from the mountains had given way to a bourgeois enthusiasm for sport. This called for new solutions at new heights. No more grand hotels were built at 1500 m for spa holidays, but a complete infrastructure for skiers in high alpine terrain such as the Nordkette. During his time in Merano, Baumann had already come into contact with the local heritage organisation. This is precisely where the strengths of his approach to holistic construction in the Tyrolean sense lay. All technical functions and details, the embedding of the buildings in the landscape, taking into account the topography and sunlight, played a role for him, who was not officially allowed to use the title of architect. He thus followed the "Rules for those who build in the mountains" by the architect Adolf Loos from 1913:

Don't build picturesquely. Leave such effects to the walls, the mountains and the sun. The man who dresses picturesquely is not picturesque, but a buffoon. The farmer does not dress picturesquely. But he is...

Pay attention to the forms in which the farmer builds. For they are ancestral wisdom, congealed substance. But seek out the reason for the mould. If advances in technology have made it possible to improve the mould, then this improvement should always be used. The flail will be replaced by the threshing machine."

Baumann designed even the smallest details, from the exterior lighting to the furniture, and integrated them into his overall concept of the Tiroler Moderne in.

From 1927, Baumann worked independently in his studio in Schöpfstraße in Wilten. He repeatedly came into contact with his brother-in-law and employee of the building authority, Theodor Prachensky. From 1929, the two of them worked together to design the building for the new Hötting secondary school on Fürstenweg. Although boys and girls were still to be planned separately in the traditional way, the building was otherwise completely in keeping with the New Objectivity style in terms of form and furnishings, based on the principle of light, air and sun. In 1935 he managed the project Hörtnaglsiedlung in the west of the city.

In his heyday, he employed 14 people in his office. Thanks to his modern approach, which combined function, aesthetics and economical construction, he survived the economic crisis well. The 1,000-mark freeze that Hitler imposed on Austria in 1934 in order to put the Republic in financial difficulties heralded the slow decline of his architectural practice. Not only did the unemployment rate in tourism triple within a very short space of time, but the construction industry also ran into difficulties.

In 1935, Baumann became the shooting star of the Tyrolean architecture scene and was appointed head of the Central Association of Architects after he was finally allowed to use this professional title with a special licence. After the Anschluss in 1938, he quickly joined the NSDAP. On the one hand, he was probably not averse to the ideas of National Socialism, but on the other he was able to further his career as chairman of the Reich Chamber of Fine Arts in Tyrol. In this position, he courageously opposed the destructive furore with which those in power wanted to change Innsbruck's cityscape, which did not correspond to his idea of urban planning. The mayor of Innsbruck, Egon Denz, wanted to remove the Triumphal Gate and St Anne's Column in order to make more room for traffic in Maria-Theresienstraße. The city centre was still a transit area from the Brenner Pass in the south to reach the main road to the east and west on today's Innrain. At the request of Gauleiter Franz Hofer, a statue of Adolf Hitler as a German herald was to be erected in place of St Anne's Column. Hofer also wanted to have the church towers of the collegiate church blown up. Baumann's opinion on these plans was negative. When the matter made it to Albert Speer's desk, he agreed with him. From this point onwards, Baumann was no longer awarded any public projects by Gauleiter Hofer.

After being questioned as part of the denazification process, Baumann began working at the city building authority, probably on the recommendation of his brother-in-law Prachensky. Baumann was fully exonerated, among other things by a statement from the Abbot of Wilten, but his reputation as an architect could no longer be repaired. Moreover, his studio in Schöpfstraße had been destroyed by a bomb in 1944. In his post-war career, he was responsible for the renovation of buildings damaged by the war. Under his leadership, Boznerplatz with the Rudolfsbrunnen fountain was rebuilt as well as Burggraben and the new Stadtsäle (Note: today House of Music).

Franz Baumann died in 1974 and his paintings, sketches and drawings are highly sought-after and highly traded. The diverse public and private buildings and projects of the ever-smoking architect still characterise Innsbruck today.

Few eras are more difficult to grasp than the interwar period. The Roaring TwentiesJazz and automobiles come to mind, as do inflation and the economic crisis. In big cities like Berlin, young ladies behaved as Flappers with a bobbed head, cigarette and short skirts, lascivious to the new sounds, Innsbruck's population, as part of the young Republic of Austria, belonged for the most part to the faction of poverty, economic crisis and political polarisation.

Although the Republic of German-Austria had been proclaimed, it was unclear how things would continue in Austria. The monarchy and nobility were banned. The bureaucratic state of the k.u.k. Empire was seamlessly established under a new flag and name. As the successors to the old crown lands, the federal states were given a great deal of room for manoeuvre in legislation and administration within the framework of federalism. However, enthusiasm for the new state was limited. Not only was the supply situation miserable after the loss of the vast majority of the former Habsburg empire, but people also mistrusted the basic idea of the republic. The monarchy had not been perfect, but only very few people could relate to the idea of democracy. Instead of being subjects of the emperor, they were now citizens, but only citizens of a dwarf state with an oversized capital that was little loved in the provinces instead of a large empire. In the former crown lands, most of which were governed by Christian socialists, people liked to speak of the Viennese water headwho was fed by the yields of the industrious rural population.

Austria was deeply divided. Capital and provinces, city and countryside, citizens, workers and farmers - in the vacuum of the first post-war years, each group wanted to shape the future according to their own ideas. The divide did not only exist on a political level. Morality, family, leisure activities, education, faith, understanding of the law - every area of life was affected. Who should rule? How should wealth, rights and duties be distributed? What should be done with public buildings such as barracks, castles and palaces?

The revolution in Russia and the ensuing civil war with millions of deaths, expropriation and a complete reversal of the system cast a long shadow over Europe. The prospect of Soviet conditions made people afraid. A communist coup was not a real danger, especially in Tyrol, but could be easily instrumentalised in the media as a threat to discredit social democracy.

Italian troops occupied Innsbruck for almost two years after the end of the war. At the peace negotiations in Paris, the Brenner Pass was declared the new border. The historic Tyrol was divided in two. The military was stationed at the Brenner Pass to secure a border that had never existed before and was perceived as unnatural and unjust. Many people on both sides of the Brenner felt betrayed. Although the war was far from won, they did not see themselves as losers to Italy. Hatred of Italians reached its peak in the interwar period, even if the occupying troops were emphatically lenient. A passage from the short story collection "The front above the peaks" by the National Socialist author Karl Springenschmid from the 1930s reflects the general mood:

"The young girl says, 'Becoming Italian would be the worst thing.

Old Tappeiner just nods and grumbles: "I know it myself and we all know it: becoming a whale would be the worst thing."

The newly founded Tyrolean People's Party was at least as hostile to Vienna and the Social Democrats as it was to the Italians. The new Austria seemed too small and not viable. Other federal states were also toying with the idea of seceding from the Republic after the plan to join Germany, which was supported by all parties, was forbidden by the victorious powers of the First World War. The Tyrolean plans, however, were particularly spectacular. From a neutral Alpine state with other federal states, a free state consisting of Tyrol and Bavaria or from Kufstein to Salurn, an annexation to Switzerland to a Catholic church state under papal leadership, there were many ideas. The annexation to Germany was approved by 98% in a vote in Tyrol, but never materialised.

However, high politics was only the framework for the real problems. The epidemic that went down in history as the Spanish flu also took its toll in Innsbruck in the years after the war. Exact figures were not recorded, but the number of deaths worldwide is estimated at 27 - 50 million. Many Innsbruck residents had not returned home from the battlefields and were missing as fathers, husbands and labourers. Many of those who had made it back were wounded and scarred by the horrors of war. As late as February 1920, the "Tyrolean Committee of the Siberians" at the Gasthof Breinößl "...in favour of the fund for the repatriation of our prisoners of war..." a charity evening.

Many people, especially civil servants and public sector employees, had lost their jobs after the League of Nations tied its loan to harsh austerity measures. Tourism as an economic factor was non-existent due to the problems in the neighbouring countries, which were also shaken by the war. It was not until the currency reorganisation and the introduction of the schilling as the new currency in 1925 under Chancellor Ignaz Seipel that Innsbruck slowly began to recover. Major projects such as the Tivoli, the municipal indoor swimming pool, new schools and apartment blocks could only be realised after the first post-war problems had been overcome.

The first republic was a difficult birth from the remnants of the former monarchy and it was not to last long. Despite many post-war problems, however, the First Republic also saw many positive developments. Subjects became citizens. What began in the time of Maria Theresa was now continued under new auspices. The change from subject to citizen was characterised not only by a new right to vote, but above all by the increased care of the state. Schools, kindergartens, labour offices, hospitals and municipal housing estates replaced the benevolence of wealthy citizens, the monarchy and the church. Times were hard and the new system had not yet been honed.

To this day, much of the Austrian state and Innsbruck's cityscape and infrastructure are based on what emerged after the collapse of the monarchy. In Innsbruck, there are no conscious memorials to the emergence of the First Republic in Austria. The listed housing projects such as the Schlachthofblock, the Pembaurblock or the Mandelsbergerblock in Saggen as well as in Pradl and Wilten are contemporary witnesses in stone.

One of the most important figures in the town's history was Wilhelm Greil (1850 - 1923). From 1896 to 1923, the entrepreneur held the office of mayor, having previously helped to shape the city's fortunes as deputy mayor. It was a time of growth, the incorporation of entire neighbourhoods, technical innovations, new media and previously unimaginable social and political upheavals.

The second half of the 19th century was characterised by a political struggle between liberal and conservative forces. Unlike in the rest of the Tyrol, the conservatives had a hard time in Innsbruck, whose population had been in favour of liberal ideas since the Napoleonic era. Each side not only had politicians, but also associations and their own newspapers. Taxes, social policy, education, housing and the organisation of public space were discussed with passion and zeal. Due to an electoral system based on voting rights via property classes, only around 10% of the entire population of Innsbruck could go to the ballot box. Relative suffrage applied within the three electoral bodies, which means as much as: The winner takes it all. Mass parties such as the Social Democrats were unable to assert themselves until the electoral law reform of the First Republic. Mayors like Greil could rely on 100% support in the municipal council, which naturally made decision-making and steering much easier.

Greil belonged to the "Deutschen Volkspartei", a liberal and national-Great German party. What appears to us today as a contradiction, liberal and national, was a politically common and well-functioning pair of ideas in the 19th century. Pan-Germanism was not a political peculiarity of a radical right-wing minority, but rather a centrist trend, particularly in German-speaking cities of the Reich, which was important in varying forms through almost all parties until after the Second World War. Whoever issues the liberal Innsbrucker Nachrichten of the period around the turn of the century, you will find countless articles in which the common ground between the German Reich and the German-speaking countries was made the topic of the day.

Greil was a skilful politician who operated within the predetermined power structures of his time. He knew how to skilfully manoeuvre around the traditional powers, the monarchy and the clergy, and how to come to terms with them. The period leading up to the First World War was characterised by a general economic boom. This gave him a great deal of room for manoeuvre. Under him, the city purchased land with foresight in the style of a merchant in order to make projects possible. Under Wilhelm Greil, Innsbruck expanded at a rapid pace. The politician Greil was able to rely on the civil servants and town planners Eduard Klingler, Jakob Albert and Theodor Prachensky for the major building projects of the time. Infrastructure projects such as the new town hall in Maria-Theresienstraße in 1897, the Hungerburg railway in 1906 and the Karwendelbahn were realised. Other milestones included the renovation of the market square and the construction of the market hall.

Much of what was pioneered in the second half of the 19th century is part of everyday life today. For the people of that time, however, these things were a real sensation and life-changing. The four decades between the economic crisis of 1873 and the First World War were characterised by unprecedented economic growth and rapid modernisation. The city's economy boomed. Businesses were founded in Pradl and Wilten and attracted workers. Tourism also brought fresh capital into the city. At the same time, however, the concentration of people in a confined space under sometimes precarious hygiene conditions also brought problems. The outskirts of the city in particular were repeatedly plagued by typhus.

His predecessor, Mayor Heinrich Falk (1840 - 1917), had already contributed significantly to the modernisation of the town and the settlement of Saggen. Since 1859, the lighting of the city with gas pipelines had progressed steadily. Between 1887 and 1891, Innsbruck was equipped with a modern high-pressure water pipeline, which could also be used to supply flats on higher floors with fresh water. Wilhelm Greil arranged for the gas works in Pradl and the electricity works in Mühlau to be taken over into municipal ownership. The street lighting was converted to electric light.

Greil was able to secure Innsbrucker Renaissance on patrons from the town's middle classes. Baron Johann von Sieberer donated the old people's asylum and the orphanage in Saggen. Leonhard Lang donated the building, previously used as a hotel, to which the town hall moved from the old town in 1897, in return for the town's promise to build a home for apprentices.

Even before the First World War, there were changes in everyday politics. The first free elections within the k.u.k. Monarchy to the Imperial Council for all male citizens in 1907 changed the social rules of the game. In his final years in office, Greil accompanied Innsbruck through the transition from the Habsburg Monarchy to the Republic, through years characterised above all by hunger, misery, scarcity of resources and insecurity. He was 68 years old when Italian troops occupied the city after the First World War and Tyrol was divided at the Brenner Pass, which was particularly bitter for him as a representative of German nationalism.

In 1928, former mayor Greil died as an honorary citizen of the city of Innsbruck at the age of 78. Wilhelm-Greil-Straße was named after him during his lifetime.

The period between the French Revolution and the Battle of Königgrätz in 1866 was a period of war. The monarchies of Europe, led by the Habsburgs, had declared war on the French Republic. Fears were rife that the motto of the Revolution "Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité" could spread across Europe. A young general named Napoleon Bonaparte was with his italienischen Armee advanced across the Alps as part of the coalition wars and met the Austrian troops there. It was not just a war for territory and power, it was a battle of systems. The Grande Armee of the revolutionary French Republic met the arch-Catholic Habsburgs.

Tyrolean riflemen were involved in the fighting to defend the country's borders against the invading French. Companies such as the Höttinger Schützen, founded in 1796, faced the most advanced and best army in the world at the time. The Cult of the Sacred Heart, which still enjoys great popularity in Tyrol today, dates back to this time. In a hopeless situation, the Tyrolean troops renewed their covenant with the heart of Jesus to ask for protection. It was the abbot of Stams Monastery who petitioned the provincial estates to henceforth organise an annual "das Fest des göttlichen Herzens Jesu mit feierlichem Gottesdienst zu begehen, wenn Tirol von der drohenden Feindesgefahr befreit werde." Every year, the Sacred Heart celebrations were discussed and announced with great pomp in the press. Particularly in the 19th and early 20th centuries, they were an explosive mixture of popular superstition, Catholicism and national resentment against everything French and Italian. Alongside Cranach's Mother of Mercy, the depiction of the heart of Jesus is probably the most popular Christian motif in the Tyrolean region to this day and is emblazoned on the façades of countless houses.

In the war years of 1848, 1859 and 1866, the so-called Italian wars of unification. In the course of the 19th century, at the latest since 1848, there was a veritable national frenzy among young men. Volunteer armies sprang up in all regions of Europe. Students and academics who came together in their associations, gymnasts, marksmen, all wanted to prove their new love of the nation on the battlefield and supported the official armies. Probably the most famous battle of the Wars of unification took place in Solferino near Lake Garda in 1859. Horrified by the bloody events, Henry Durant decided to found the Red Cross. The writer Joseph Roth described the events in the first pages of his classic book, which is well worth reading Radetzkymarsch.

"In the battle of Solferino, he (note: Lieutenant Trotta) commanded a platoon as an infantry lieutenant. The battle had been going on for half an hour. Three paces in front of him he saw the white backs of his soldiers. The first row of his platoon was kneeling, the second was standing. Everyone was cheerful and certain of victory. They had eaten copiously and drunk brandy at the expense and in honour of the emperor, who had been in the field since yesterday. Here and there one fell out of line."

As a garrison town, Innsbruck was an important supply centre. After the Congress of Vienna, the Tyrolean Jägerkorps the k.k. Tiroler Kaiserjägerregiment an elite unit that was deployed in these conflicts. Volunteer units such as the Innsbruck academics or the Stubai Riflemen were fighting in Italy. The media fuelled the atmosphere away from the front line. The "Innsbrucker Zeitung" predigte in ihren Artikeln Kaisertreue und großdeutsch-tirolischen Nationalismus, wetterte gegen das Italienertum und Franzosen und pries den Mut Tiroler Soldaten.

"Die starke Besetzung der Höhen am Ausgange des Valsugana bei Primolano und le Tezze gab schon oft den Innsbrucker-Akademikern I. und den Stubaiern Anlaß, freiwillige Ercur:sionen gegen le Tezze, Fonzago und Fastro, als auch auf das rechte Brenta-Ufer und den Höhen gegen die kleinen Lager von den Sette comuni zu machen...Am 19. schon haben die Stubaier einige Feinde niedergestreckt, als sie sich das erste mal hinunterwagten, indem sie sich ihnen entgegenschlichen..."

The year 1866 was particularly costly for the Austrian Empire, with the loss of Veneto and Lombardy in Italy. At the same time, Prussia took the lead in the German Confederation, the successor organisation to the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation. For Innsbruck, the withdrawal of the Habsburg Monarchy from the German Confederation meant that it had finally become a city on the western periphery of the empire. The tendency towards so-called Großdeutschen LösungThe German question, i.e. statehood together with the German Empire instead of the independent Austrian Empire, was more pronounced in Innsbruck than in the rest of the country. The extent to which this German question divided the city became apparent over 30 years later, when the Innsbruck municipal council voted in favour of the Iron Chancellor Bismarck, who was responsible for the fratricidal war between Austria and Germany, wanted to dedicate a street to him. While conservatives loyal to the emperor were horrified by this proposal, the Greater German liberals around Mayor Wilhelm Greil were delighted by this gesture of unification.

However, the national aspirations of the individual ethnic groups did not stop at Tyrol in an idealistic sense, as the Trentino region between Salurn and Riva on Lake Garda also included an Italian-speaking part of the country. In the Tyrolean state parliament, Italian-speaking members of parliament called for so-called Irredentistsmore rights and autonomy for what was then South Tyrol. In Innsbruck, there were repeated tensions and clashes between Italian and German-speaking students. The WallschenThis term for Italians persists to this day and they were considered dishonourable, unreliable and lazy.

With the Tummelplatz, the Pradl military cemetery and the Kaiserjägermuseum on Mount Isel, Innsbruck has several places of remembrance of this time of great loss for the Habsburgs.

In the 15th century, the first early form of industrialisation began to develop in Innsbruck. Bell and weapon founders such as the Löfflers set up factories in Hötting, Mühlau and Dreiheiligen, which were among the leading factories of their time. Although entrepreneurs were not of noble blood, they often had more capital at their disposal than the aristocracy. The old hierarchies still existed, but were beginning to become at least somewhat fragile. Industry not only changed the rules of the social game with the influx of new workers and their families, it also had an impact on the appearance of Innsbruck. Unlike the farmers, the labourers were not the subjects of any master. They brought new fashions with them and dressed differently. Capital from outside came into the city. Houses and churches were built for the newly arrived subjects. The large workshops changed the smell and sound of the city. The smelting works were loud, the smoke from the furnaces polluted the air.

The second wave of industrialisation came late in Innsbruck compared to other European regions. The Small craftThe town's former craft businesses, which were organised in guilds, came under pressure from the achievements of modern goods production. In St. Nikolaus, Wilten, Mühlau and Pradl, modern factories were built along the Mühlbach stream and the Sill Canal. Many innovative company founders came from outside Innsbruck. Peter Walde, who moved to Innsbruck from Lusatia, founded his company in 1777 in what is now Innstrasse 23, producing products made from fat, such as tallow candles and soaps. Eight generations later, Walde is still one of the oldest family businesses in Austria. Today, you can buy the result of centuries of tradition in soap and candle form in the listed headquarters with its Gothic vaults. In 1838, the spinning machine arrived via the Dornbirn company Herrburger & Rhomberg over the Arlberg to Pradl. H&R had acquired a plot of land on the Sillgründe. Thanks to the river's water power, the site was ideal for the heavy machinery used in the textile industry. In addition to the traditional sheep's wool, cotton was now also processed.

Just like 400 years earlier, the Second Industrial Revolution changed the city forever. Neighbourhoods such as Mühlau, Pradl and Wilten grew rapidly. The factories were often located in the centre of residential areas. Over 20 factories used the Sill Canal around 1900, and the noise and exhaust fumes from the engines were hell for the neighbours, as a newspaper article from 1912 shows:

„Entrüstung ruft bei den Bewohnern des nächst dem Hauptbahnhofe gelegenen Stadtteiles der seit einiger Zeit in der hibler´schen Feigenkaffeefabrik aufgestellte Explosionsmotor hervor. Der Lärm, welchen diese Maschine fast den ganzen Tag ununterbrochen verbreitet, stört die ganz Umgebung in der empfindlichsten Weise und muß die umliegenden Wohnungen entwerten. In den am Bahnhofplatze liegenden Hotels sind die früher so gesuchten und beliebten Gartenzimmer kaum mehr zu vermieten. Noch schlimmer als der ruhestörende Lärm aber ist der Qualm und Gestank der neuen Maschine…“

Many members of the lesser nobility also invested the money from the 1848 land relief in industry and business. The increasing demand for labour was met by former farmhands and farmers without land. While the new wealthy entrepreneurial class had villas built in Wilten, Pradl and Saggen and middle-class employees lived in apartment buildings in the same neighbourhoods, the workers were housed in workers' hostels and mass accommodation. Some worked in businesses such as the gas works, the quarry or in one of the factories, while others consumed the wealth. Shifts of 12 hours in cramped, noisy and sooty conditions demanded everything from the workers. Child labour was not banned until the 1840s. Women earned only a fraction of what men were paid. Workers often lived in tenements built by their employers and were at their mercy due to the lack of labour laws. There was neither social security nor unemployment insurance. Those who were unable to work had to rely on the welfare organisations of their home town. It should be noted that this everyday life of the labourers, which we find terrifying, was no different from the working conditions in the villages, but developed from them. Child labour, inequality and precarious working conditions were also the norm in agriculture.

However, industrialisation did not only affect everyday material life. Innsbruck experienced the kind of gentrification that can be observed today in trendy urban neighbourhoods such as Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin. The change from the rural life of the village to the city involved more than just a change of location. In one of his texts, the Innsbruck writer Josef Leitgeb tells us how people experienced the urbanisation of what was once a rural area:

„…viel fremdes, billig gekleidetes Volk, in wachsenden Wohnblocks zusammengedrängt, morgens, mittags und abends die Straßen füllend, wenn es zur Arbeit ging oder von ihr kam, aus Werkstätten, Läden, Fabriken, vom Bahndienst, die Gesichter oft blaß und vorzeitig alternd, in Haltung, Sprache und Kleidung nichts Persönliches mehr, sondern ein Allgemeines, massenhaft Wiederholtes und Wiederholbares: städtischer Arbeitsmensch. Bahnhof und Gaswerk erschienen als Kern dieser neuen, unsäglich fremden Landschaft.“

For many Innsbruck residents, the revolutionary year of 1848 and the new economic circumstances led to bourgeoisie. There were always stories of people who rose through the ranks with hard work, luck, talent and a little financial start-up aid. Well-known Innsbruck examples outside the hotel and catering industry that still exist today are the Tyrolean stained glass business, the Hörtnagl grocery store and the Walde soap factory. Successful entrepreneurs took over the former role of the aristocratic landlords. Together with the numerous academics, they formed a new class that also gained more and more political influence. Beda Weber wrote about this in 1851:

„Their social circles are without constraint, and there is a distinctly metropolitan flavour that is not so easy to find elsewhere in Tyrol."

The workers also became bourgeois. While the landlord in the countryside was still master of the private lives of his farmhands and maidservants and was able to determine their lifestyle up to and including sexuality via the release for marriage, the labourers were now at least somewhat freer individually. They were poorly paid, but at least they now received their own wages instead of board and lodging and were able to organise their private affairs for themselves without the landlord's guardianship.

Innsbruck is not a traditional working-class city. Nevertheless, Tyrol never saw the formation of a significant labour movement as in Vienna. Innsbruck has always been predominantly a commercial and university city. Although there were social democrats and a handful of communists, the number of workers was always too small to really make a difference. May Day marches are only attended by the majority of people for cheap schnitzel and free beer. There are hardly any other memorials to industrialisation and the achievements of the working class. In St.-Nikolaus-Gasse and in many tenement houses in Wilten and Pradl, a few houses have been preserved that give an impression of the everyday life of Innsbruck's working class.

In the 1920s and 30s, the NSDAP also grew and prospered in Tyrol. The first local branch of the NSDAP in Innsbruck was founded in 1923. With "Der Nationalsozialist - Combat Gazette for Tyrol and Vorarlberg" published its own weekly newspaper. In 1933, the NSDAP also experienced a meteoric rise in Innsbruck. The general dissatisfaction and disenchantment with politics among the citizens and theatrically staged torchlight processions through the city, including swastika-shaped bonfires on the Nordkette mountain range during the election campaign, helped the party to make huge gains. Over 1800 Innsbruck residents were members of the SA, which had its headquarters at Bürgerstraße 10. While the National Socialists were only able to win 2.8% of the vote in their first municipal council election in 1921, this figure had already risen to 41% by the 1933 elections. Nine mandataries, including the later mayor Egon Denz and the Gauleiter of Tyrol Franz Hofer, were elected to the municipal council. It was not only Hitler's election as Reich Chancellor in Germany, but also campaigns and manifestations in Innsbruck that helped the party, which had been banned in Austria since 1934, to achieve this result. As everywhere else, it was mainly young people in Innsbruck who were enthusiastic about National Socialism. They were attracted by the new, the clearing away of old hierarchies and structures such as the Catholic Church, the upheaval and the unprecedented style. National Socialism was particularly popular among the big German-minded lads in the student fraternities and often also among professors.

When the annexation of Austria to Germany took place in March 1938, civil war-like scenes ensued. Already in the run-up to the invasion, there had been repeated marches and rallies by the National Socialists after the ban on the party had been lifted. Even before Federal Chancellor Schuschnigg gave his last speech to the people before handing over power to the National Socialists with the words "God bless Austria" had closed on 11 March 1938, the National Socialists were already gathering in the city centre to celebrate the invasion of the German troops. The police of the corporative state were partly sympathetic to the riots of the organised manifestations and partly powerless in the face of the goings-on. Although the Landhaus and Maria-Theresien-Straße were cordoned off and secured with machine-gun posts, there was no question of any crackdown by the executive. "One people - one empire - one leader" echoed through the city. The threat of the German military and the deployment of SA troops dispelled the last doubts. More and more of the enthusiastic population joined in. At the Tiroler Landhaus, then still in Maria-Theresienstraße, and at the provisional headquarters of the National Socialists in the Gasthaus Old Innspruggthe swastika flag was hoisted.

On 12 March, the people of Innsbruck gave the German military a frenetic welcome. On 5 April, Adolf Hitler visited Innsbruck in person to be celebrated by the crowd. Archive photos show a euphoric crowd awaiting the Führer, the promise of salvation. Mountain fires in the shape of swastikas were lit on the Nordkette. The referendum on 10 April resulted in a vote of over 99% in favour of Austria's annexation to Germany. After the economic hardship of the interwar period, the economic crisis and the governments under Dollfuß and Schuschnigg, people were tired and wanted change. What kind of change was initially less important than the change itself. "Showing them up there", that was Hitler's promise. The Wehrmacht and industry offered young people a perspective, even those who had little to do with the ideology of National Socialism in and of itself. The fact that there were repeated outbreaks of violence was not unusual for the interwar period in Austria anyway. Unlike today, democracy was not something that anyone could have got used to in the short period between the monarchy in 1918 and the elimination of parliament under Dollfuß in 1933, which was characterised by political extremes. There is no need to abolish something that does not actually exist in the minds of the population.

Tyrol and Vorarlberg were combined into a Reichsgau with Innsbruck as its capital. There was no armed resistance, as the left in Tyrol was not strong enough. There were isolated instances of unorganised subversive behaviour by the Catholic population, especially in some rural communities around Innsbruck. Even though National Socialism was viewed sceptically by a large part of the population, there was hardly any organised resistance. The apparatus of power dominated people's everyday lives too comprehensively. Many jobs and other comforts of life were tied to an at least outwardly loyal attitude to the party. The majority of the population was spared imprisonment, but the fear of it was omnipresent.

The regime under Hofer and Gestapo chief Werner Hilliges also did a great job of suppression. In Tyrol, the church was the biggest obstacle. During National Socialism, the Catholic Church was systematically combated. Catholic schools were converted, youth organisations and associations were banned, monasteries were closed, religious education was abolished and a church tax was introduced. Particularly stubborn priests such as Otto Neururer were sent to concentration camps. Local politicians such as the later Innsbruck mayors Anton Melzer and Franz Greiter also had to flee or were arrested. To summarise the violence and crimes committed against the Jewish population, the clergy, political suspects, civilians and prisoners of war would go beyond the scope of this book.

The Gestapo headquarters were located at Herrengasse 1, where suspects were severely abused and sometimes beaten to death with fists. In 1941, the Reichenau labour camp was set up in Rossau near the Innsbruck building yard. Suspects of all kinds were kept here for forced labour in shabby barracks. Over 130 people died in this camp consisting of 20 barracks due to illness, the poor conditions, labour accidents or executions.

Prisoners were also forced to work at the Messerschmitt factory in the village of Kematen, 10 kilometres from Innsbruck. These included political prisoners, Russian prisoners of war and Jews. The forced labour included, among other things, the construction of the South Tyrolean settlements in the final phase or the tunnels to protect against air raids in the south of Innsbruck. In the Innsbruck clinic, disabled people and those deemed unacceptable by the system, such as homosexuals, were forcibly sterilised.

The memorials to the National Socialist era are few and far between. The Tiroler Landhaus with the Liberation Monument and the building of the Old University are the two most striking memorials. The forecourt of the university and a small column at the southern entrance to the hospital were also designed to commemorate what was probably the darkest chapter in Austria's history.

Like the course of the city's history, its appearance is also subject to constant change. The years around 1500 and between 1850 and 1900, when political, economic and social changes took place at a particularly rapid pace, produced particularly visible changes in the cityscape. However, the most drastic event with the greatest impact on the cityscape was probably the air raids on the city during the Second World War.

In addition to the food shortage, people suffered from what the National Socialists called the "Heimatfront" in the city were particularly affected by the Allied air raids. Innsbruck was an important supply station for supplies on the Italian front.

The first Allied air raid on the ill-prepared city took place on the night of 15-16 December 1943. 269 people fell victim to the bombs, 500 were injured and more than 1500 were left homeless. Over 300 buildings, mainly in Wilten and the city centre, were destroyed and damaged. On Monday 18 December, the following were found in the Innsbrucker Nachrichten, dem Vorgänger der Tiroler Tageszeitung, auf der Titelseite allerhand propagandistische Meldungen vom erfolgreichen und heroischen Abwehrkampf der Deutschen Wehrmacht an allen Fronten gegenüber dem Bündnis aus Anglo-Amerikanern und dem Russen, nicht aber vom Bombenangriff auf Innsbruck.

Bombenterror über Innsbruck

Innsbruck, 17. Dez. Der 16. Dezember wird in der Geschichte Innsbrucks als der Tag vermerkt bleiben, an dem der Luftterror der Anglo-Amerikaner die Gauhauptstadt mit der ganzen Schwere dieser gemeinen und brutalen Kampfweise, die man nicht mehr Kriegführung nennen kann, getroffen hat. In mehreren Wellen flogen feindliche Kampfverbände die Stadt an und richteten ihre Angriffe mit zahlreichen Spreng- und Brandbomben gegen die Wohngebiete. Schwerste Schäden an Wohngebäuden, an Krankenhäusern und anderen Gemeinschaftseinrichtungen waren das traurige, alle bisherigen Schäden übersteigende Ergebnis dieses verbrecherischen Überfalles, der über zahlreiche Familien unserer Stadt schwerste Leiden und empfindliche Belastung der Lebensführung, das bittere Los der Vernichtung liebgewordenen Besitzes, der Zerstörung von Heim und Herd und der Heimatlosigkeit gebracht hat. Grenzenloser Haß und das glühende Verlangen diese unmenschliche Untat mit schonungsloser Schärfe zu vergelten, sind die einzige Empfindung, die außer der Auseinandersetzung mit den eigenen und den Gemeinschaftssorgen alle Gemüter bewegt. Wir alle blicken voll Vertrauen auf unsere Soldaten und erwarten mit Zuversicht den Tag, an dem der Führer den Befehl geben wird, ihre geballte Kraft mit neuen Waffen gegen den Feind im Westen einzusetzen, der durch seinen Mord- und Brandterror gegen Wehrlose neuerdings bewiesen hat, daß er sich von den asiatischen Bestien im Osten durch nichts unterscheidet – es wäre denn durch größere Feigheit. Die Luftschutzeinrichtungen der Stadt haben sich ebenso bewährt, wie die Luftschutzdisziplin der Bevölkerung. Bis zur Stunde sind 26 Gefallene gemeldet, deren Zahl sich aller Voraussicht nach nicht wesentlich erhöhen dürfte. Die Hilfsmaßnahmen haben unter Führung der Partei und tatkräftigen Mitarbeit der Wehrmacht sofort und wirkungsvoll eingesetzt.

This news item, which was imaginatively designed by censorship and media synchronisation, barely made it onto page 3. There was probably no more prominent way of presenting the city's poor preparation for the foreseeable bombardment to the public. The enthusiasm for National Socialism was no longer quite as great as in 1938 after the Anschluss, when Hitler was enthusiastically welcomed by 100,000 people in Innsbruck on 5 April. The damage to the city and the personal, tragic losses among the population were too great. In January 1944, the construction of air-raid tunnels and other protective measures began. The work was largely carried out by prisoners from the Reichenau concentration camp.

Innsbruck was attacked a total of twenty-two times between 1943 and 1945. Almost 3833, i.e. almost 50%, of the city's buildings were damaged and 504 people died. In the final months of the war, normality was out of the question. The population lived in constant fear. Schools were closed in the mornings. A regular everyday life was no longer conceivable.

Fortunately, the city was only the victim of targeted attacks. German cities such as Hamburg and Dresden were completely razed to the ground by the Allies with firestorms that claimed tens of thousands of lives within a few hours. Many buildings such as the Jesuit Church, Wilten Abbey, the Servite Church, the cathedral and the indoor swimming pool in Amraserstraße were hit.

Historic buildings and monuments received special treatment during the attacks. The Goldene Dachl was protected with a special construction, as was Maximilian's sarcophagus in the Hofkirche. The figures in the Hofkirche, the Schwarzen Mannderwere brought to Kundl. The Mother of Mercy, the famous picture from Innsbruck Cathedral, was transferred to Ötztal during the war.

The air-raid shelter tunnel south of Innsbruck on Brennerstrasse and the markings of houses with air-raid shelters with their black squares and white circles and arrows can still be seen today. In Pradl, where next to Wilten most of the buildings were damaged, bronze plaques on the affected houses indicate that they were hit by a bomb.

There are events that remain in the collective memory of a community for generations. You don't have to have been there, or even be in the world, to know that Franz Klammer raced to the gold medal in the Olympic downhill on the Patscherkofel on 5 February 1976 in his yellow one-piece suit. Franz Josef I may have climbed the Patscherkofel in 1848, but he became a legend on this mountain. Kaiser Franz Bracket. "Jawoll! 1;45,73 für unseren Franzi Klammer," could be heard from countless TV sets in Austria at the time. In order to be able to follow the national hero Klammer on his devil's ride, the schoolchildren were allowed to stay at home on the day of the men's downhill, just like in 1964. The streets were also empty during this hellish ride. Klammer achieved what many emperors, kings and politicians had failed to do. He united the nation of Austria. "Mi hats obageibtlt von oben bis unten, I hatt nie gedacht, dass i Bestzeit foaKlammer said in Carinthian dialect during the winner's interview. No Tyrolean, nobody is perfect, but the Olympic Games were already saved for the host nation Austria on the second day.

In 1976, the Winter Olympics were held in Innsbruck for the second time. It would actually have been Denver's turn, but due to a referendum on financial and environmental concerns, Colorado withdrew as host. Innsbruck prevailed as host in the second attempt against Lake Placid, Chamoix and Tampere.

It had hosted the Olympics for the first time 12 years earlier. From 29 January to 9 February 1964, Innsbruck was the hub after beating Calgary and Lahti in the bid. A severe lack of snow caused problems for the realisation of several events. It was only with the help of the Austrian army, which brought snow and ice from the high mountains to the competition venues, that the 34 competitions could be organised.

The opening ceremony in the packed Berg Isel Stadium can be clearly seen in archive photos. Unlike the elaborate ceremonies of today's Olympic Games, the procedure in the 1960s was still unspectacular. The Wilten town music under the direction of Sepp Tanzer, delighted the international guests with Tyrolean brass music. As the flags marched in, visitors were able to see the North Korean flag for the first time during the Olympic Games. The Tyrolean marksmen kept a watchful eye on the Olympic flame. Only the Olympic rings were placed over the city's coat of arms as a logo; there was no mascot yet.

The sports competitions were also less professionally organised than today's Olympic Games. The bobsleigh race took place on an artificial ice track for the first time, although not yet in today's Igl ice channel. Some of the ice hockey games were still held in the exhibition hall in a very moderate setting. Skiing competitions, such as the women's slalom and giant slalom, in which the French sisters Christine and Marielle Goitschel won gold and silver in different combinations, took place in the Axamer Lizum. According to official figures, 80,000 spectators watched the spectacle on Mount Isel as the Finn Veikko Kankonnen secured gold in the ski jumping event. In the ice hockey final, the Soviet Union triumphed ahead of Sweden. With 11 gold medals, the USSR also secured first place in the medals table, while Austria sensationally came second with four golds.

The opening of the 1976 Games also took place on Berg Isel. In memory of 1964, two flames were lit on Mount Isel during the opening ceremony. Most of the 37 competitions this time took place at the same venues in Innsbruck, Axams, Igls and Seefeld as in 1964. The ice stadium and ski jumping arena were still suitable for the Olympics. A new artificial ice rink was built in Igls. The Axamer Lizum was given a new standing track to allow the athletes to start on the Hoadl to bring.

In 1976, snow was once again in short supply in the run-up to the event and there were fears once again, but the weather changed at the last moment and Innsbruck was given the white gold. The Schneemanndla round snowman with a carrot nose and Tyrolean hat, the mascot of the 1976 Games was probably a good omen.

The biggest change between the two Olympic Games within twelve years was the status of the athletes. While only amateurs, i.e. athletes who were pursuing a profession, were officially allowed to compete at the first Games, professional athletes were able to compete in 1976.

The transmission and photo quality was also much better than in the first Innsbruck edition. Television had now overtaken radio. The German ski racer Rosi Mittermaier was perfectly staged on her runs to double gold and silver in the women's ski races. The ice hockey tournament was again won by the Soviet Union ahead of Sweden, for the fourth time in a row. The medals table also saw the USSR at the top again, this time ahead of the GDR. Austria only managed to win two gold medals. With Klammer's gold in the downhill, however, this was only a minor matter. The Patscherkofel and Austria's Franzi sind seither untrennbar miteinander verbunden. Und auch wenn die Innsbrucker nicht ganz so sportlich sind, wie sie gerne wären, den Titel der Olympiastadt kann nach zwei Ausgaben plus einer Universiade und den Youth Olympic Games niemand wegdiskutieren.

The city, supported by federal funds, was also very generous with the non-sporting infrastructure for both games. Following the rapid reconstruction of the city after the war, the city was modernised in the run-up to the Games. Innsbruck's first Olympic edition took place during the period of the economic miracle. In 1963, the Olympic Bridge, which connected the west of the city with the competition venues, was built. Until then, Innsbruck's east-west traffic had travelled through the city centre in a complicated manner. The individual streets between Amraser-See-Straße in the east and Bachlechnerstraße in the west, which make up the Südring arterial road today, were only subsequently developed and were previously quiet parts of the suburbs. Meadows and fields characterised the scenery. The comparison of aerial photographs from 1960 and 2020 is fascinating. In Amras, where today the daily Rush Hour abspielt, bis in die 1970er Jahre Bauernhöfe und einzelne Wohnhäuser. In der heutigen Egger-Lienz-Straße beim Westbahnhof verlief das Bahnviadukt der Westbahn. Alte Fotos zeigen die Gleise, daneben Bäume und spielende Kinder. Rund um die heutige Graßmayr junction a new neighbourhood was created almost in passing. The Department stores' forumwhich today houses a cinema, was a sensation and a sign of Innsbruck's modernisation.

An Olympic village was built twice and living space was created that is still in use today. Part of the former village of Arzl, which had belonged to Innsbruck since 1940, was chosen for this purpose. Today's district O-Village in the east of the city functioned as an Olympic village for the athletes during the Games, which was connected to the city centre and the competition venues by the Reichenau Bridge over the Inn. Construction of the first blocks of flats began in the sparsely populated Arzler Au in 1961. The Arzler shooting range, which can still be seen on a map from 1960, was relocated one step further up the valley. Further blocks were added in the 1970s. Today, despite the less tranquil 1960s and 1970s-style tower blocks, O-Dorf is a neighbourhood worth living in thanks to its location on the Inn, the green spaces and the good public transport connections.

Many other buildings in Innsbruck, which were used as infrastructure for the press and media during the Olympics, also date back to the Olympic Games. The Pädagogische Akademie PÄDAK in Wilten, the IVB-Halle and the Landessportheim can be regarded as Olympic heritage. The less magnificent building that houses the former Holiday Inn hotel next to the Triumphal Gate, which has undergone a number of changes of operator in recent decades, was also built as part of the Olympic Renaissance. Another legacy of the Olympic Games is something that people are desperately trying to change today: The Olympic-induced growth coincided with the early heyday of the automobile in the 1960s and 1970s.

For Innsbruck, the Olympic Games were not only a starting point for modernity in terms of winter sports and infrastructure. The events also mentally put an end to the stale atmosphere of the grey post-war period and spread a feeling of departure from the status of a provincial nest. It may no longer have been a royal seat as in Maximilian's time, but at least it was back on the international map. Thanks be to Emperor Franz!