Pradler Farms
Pradlerstrasse / Egerdachstrasse
Worth knowing
Bis ins 19. Jahrhundert war Pradl eine kleine ländliche Siedlung zwischen der Sill und der heutigen Pradler Pfarrkirche bestehend aus etwa 20 Bauernhäusern. Der Ursprung des Dorfes ist auf einen Gutshof der Grafen von Andechs zurückzuverfolgen. Der älteste Bauernhof konnte bis ins 13. Jahrhundert nachgewiesen werden. In der frühen Neuzeit kamen die Landwirte dank der gesellschaftlichen Entwicklung zu Wohlstand, der sich an den Gebäuden bis heute widerspiegelt. Die Pradler Bauern konzentrierten sich schon früh auf die Viehzucht. Stadtbürger und Adelshof wie auch die Handwerker und Facharbeiter konsumierten mehr kostspieliges Fleisch als der Durchschnittstiroler vergangener Jahrhunderte. Die Versorgung der Bevölkerung mit Lebensmitteln unterlag polizeilichen Kontrollen. Nicht nur mangelnde Qualität, auch Wucher wurde geahndet. Wie streng die frühe Lebensmittelaufsicht war, zeigt ein Polizeiakt aus dem Jahr 1748, in dem ein Pradler Metzger für die Überschreitung der Fleischtare has been fined.
The small square with the baroque statue of St Florian, built in 1865 and extended in 1913 Florianibrunnen bildet bis heute einen beliebten Pradler Treffpunkt. Mäzen dieses Dorfzentrums war die Familie Hörtnagl. Die Hörtnagls sind das erfolgreichste Beispiel eines Werdegangs vom Viehbauern zum Unternehmer. Der Hörtnaglhof in der Egerdachstraße 20 mit einer Statue der Gnadenmutter und Malereien des Heiligen Florian und des Erzengels Michael datiert auf das Jahr 1580 zurück. Andrä Hörtnagl gründete 1862 Jahre eine Fleischwarenhandlung. Unter seinem Sohn Hans Hörtnagl (1864 – 1944) wuchs das Unternehmen. Auch an infrastrukturell wichtigen Großprojekten wie der Errichtung des Schlachthofes im Saggen war die politisch engagierte und einflussreiche Familie maßgeblich beteiligt. Geschickt konnten sie ihren Besitz erweitern. In den 1930er Jahren ermöglichte Hans Hörtnagl der Stadt den Bau der Hörtnaglsiedlung on one of their plots of land in the west of the city. To this day, the traditional Hörtnagl company is an integral part of the Tyrolean gourmet landscape.
In the Egerdachstraße and Pradlerstraße around the Florianibrunnen there are other beautiful manor houses. At Egerdachstraße 10 there is the Stamserhof The Plattner family has another farmhouse worth seeing. St Florian and St Wendelin flank the family's coat of arms and the pious motto: "They are close to us, in happiness and joy, hardship and sorrow." The Lodronische Hof (Egerdachstraße 11) has also existed since the 16th century. Here the Pradler Bauerntheater its location, which with pieces such as Der letzte Rottenburger oder die Tochter des Geächteten Innsbrucker and the staging of the Tyrolean fight for freedom in 1809 attracted many city dwellers to rural Pradl. The two-storey baroque farmhouse (house number 20) right next to the Florianibrunnen bears a wall painting of the Virgin Mary by Rafael Thaler (1870 - 1947) from around 1920.
Most of the Pradler farms are no longer in operation as agricultural estates. Between Pembaurstraße and the farm known as Fackngassl There are still a few horses in the well-known part of Gabelsbergerstraße. The manor houses, richly decorated in rural baroque style, are still worth seeing as relics of Pradl's not too distant past as a village.
Baroque: art movement and art of living
Anyone travelling in Austria will be familiar with the domes and onion domes of churches in villages and towns. This form of church tower originated during the Counter-Reformation and is a typical feature of the Baroque architectural style. They are also predominant in Innsbruck's cityscape. Innsbruck's most famous places of worship, such as the cathedral, St John's Church and the Jesuit Church, are in the Baroque style. Places of worship were meant to be magnificent and splendid, a symbol of the victory of true faith. Religiousness was reflected in art and culture: grand drama, pathos, suffering, splendour and glory combined to create the Baroque style, which had a lasting impact on the entire Catholic-oriented sphere of influence of the Habsburgs and their allies between Spain and Hungary.
The cityscape of Innsbruck changed enormously. The Gumpps and Johann Georg Fischer as master builders as well as Franz Altmutter's paintings have had a lasting impact on Innsbruck to this day. The Old Country House in the historic city centre, the New Country House in Maria-Theresien-Straße, the countless palazzi, paintings, figures - the Baroque was the style-defining element of the House of Habsburg in the 17th and 18th centuries and became an integral part of everyday life. The bourgeoisie did not want to be inferior to the nobles and princes and had their private houses built in the Baroque style. Pictures of saints, depictions of the Mother of God and the heart of Jesus adorned farmhouses.
Baroque was not just an architectural style, it was an attitude to life that began after the end of the Thirty Years' War. The Turkish threat from the east, which culminated in the two sieges of Vienna, determined the foreign policy of the empire, while the Reformation dominated domestic politics. Baroque culture was a central element of Catholicism and its political representation in public, the counter-model to Calvin's and Luther's brittle and austere approach to life. Holidays with a Christian background were introduced to brighten up people's everyday lives. Architecture, music and painting were rich, opulent and lavish. In theatres such as the Comedihaus dramas with a religious background were performed in Innsbruck. Stations of the cross with chapels and depictions of the crucified Jesus dotted the landscape. Popular piety in the form of pilgrimages and the veneration of the Virgin Mary and saints found its way into everyday church life.
The Baroque piety was also used to educate the subjects. Even though the sale of indulgences was no longer a common practice in the Catholic Church after the 16th century, there was still a lively concept of heaven and hell. Through a virtuous life, i.e. a life in accordance with Catholic values and good behaviour as a subject towards the divine order, one could come a big step closer to paradise. The so-called Christian edification literature was popular among the population after the school reformation of the 18th century and showed how life should be lived. The suffering of the crucified Christ for humanity was seen as a symbol of the hardship of the subjects on earth within the feudal system. People used votive images to ask for help in difficult times or to thank the Mother of God for dangers and illnesses they had overcome. Great examples of this can be found on the eastern façade of the basilica in Wilten.
The historian Ernst Hanisch described the Baroque and the influence it had on the Austrian way of life as follows:
„Österreich entstand in seiner modernen Form als Kreuzzugsimperialismus gegen die Türken und im Inneren gegen die Reformatoren. Das brachte Bürokratie und Militär, im Äußeren aber Multiethnien. Staat und Kirche probierten den intimen Lebensbereich der Bürger zu kontrollieren. Jeder musste sich durch den Beichtstuhl reformieren, die Sexualität wurde eingeschränkt, die normengerechte Sexualität wurden erzwungen. Menschen wurden systematisch zum Heucheln angeleitet.“
The rituals and submissive behaviour towards the authorities left their mark on everyday culture, which still distinguishes Catholic countries such as Austria and Italy from Protestant regions such as Germany, England or Scandinavia. The Austrians' passion for academic titles has its origins in the Baroque hierarchies. The expression Baroque prince describes a particularly patriarchal and patronising politician who knows how to charm his audience with grand gestures. While political objectivity is valued in Germany, the style of Austrian politicians is theatrical, in keeping with the Austrian bon mot of "Schaumamal".