Mount Isel is probably the most important place of remembrance of Catholic and conservative Tyrolean identity. In 1809, the riflemen under Captain Andreas Hofer defeated the army of the Bavarians and French, who had occupied Tyrol during the Napoleonic Wars, at this location. Andreas Hofer gradually became a mythical figure in 19th century nationalism and is still regarded as a folk hero by many Tyroleans today.

The Andreas Hofer monument occupies the centre of the park on Mount Isel. A specially founded committee collected donations to erect the oversized bronze statue of Hofer. Emperor Franz Josef was present at the ceremonial opening in 1893. Mount Isel was to be known as "Heldenberg“ represent an ideal of conservative Tyrolean identity as a Catholic German state within the monarchy. Flanked by two eagles, Hofer, flag in hand, looks northwards.

After 1918, when the southern parts of the province were separated from Austria, the Andreas Hofer Monument became a memorial to the lost Tyrolean unity. In 1961, at the height of the bomb attacks on Italian facilities organised by the radical South Tyrolean Liberation Committeethe statue made it into the media in this context. Unknown persons had blown up the bronze statue on Mount Isel. To this day, there is a version of the story that it was orchestrated by the Italian government. Vendetta for the attacks by the South Tyrolean activists.

In the Tirol Panorama is home to Tyrol's largest work of art, a depiction of the  Tyrolean fight for freedom from 1809 in large format. The painting was on display in the rotunda at the old valley station of the Hungerburg cable car in Saggen until 2011, when it was moved to the newly built Museum am Berg Isel. It depicts the Third Battle of Berg Isel on over 1000 square metres. It not only shows the battle of 13 August in great detail, but also gives a very good impression of Innsbruck and the surrounding area in 1809.

It was painted by the Munich artist Dino Ziemer under the supervision of the Tyrolean Franz Defregger. Before the First World War, this collaboration was also an expression of the reconciliation between Tyrol and Bavaria as well as the new allies, the German Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy. Within the German-speaking population, the "freiheitsliebende Tiroler Widerstand“ unter Andreas Hofer im Laufe der Zeit immer mehr zu einem Mythos überhöht. Diesem Schema folgt auch das Bild. Andreas Hofer, der als stoischer Feldherr dargestellt wird. Tatsächlich war er wohl gar nicht im Schlachtgetümmel, sondern hinter der Frontlinie im Gasthof Schupfenwhere the Tyrolean command post was located. In other respects too, the depiction of the picture is only peripherally faithful to the facts, which does not detract from the enjoyment of viewing the panoramic picture including the city of Innsbruck in 1809.

The Kaiserjägermuseum is located opposite the giant circular painting. It was built in 1848 as a military building with an officers' mess, but was converted into a museum in 1880, shedding light on the history of the Tyrolean Kaiserjäger. These regiments were founded by Emperor Franz I, the first Austrian emperor, after the Napoleonic Wars. The Kaiserjäger were active in the 19th century in the Italienischen Unabhängigkeitskriegen and in the campaign in Bosnia. During the First World War, they were first sent to Galicia as regular troops of the Habsburg Monarchy before defending the Tyrolean borders in the mountain war against Italy. The museum commemorates the history of the Kaiserjäger with paintings, uniforms, weapons and models. Also on display is the Eiserne Blumenteufel. Funds were set up in the monarchy to collect donations for the relatives of fallen soldiers. Donors were allowed to drive a nail into the Flower devil hunt. The newspaper of 2 July, shortly after the outbreak of war, wrote about it:

„The nailing of the "Iron Flower Devil" dedicated to the creation of a fund for widows and orphans of fallen Tyrolean warriors ... is making considerable progress. The cap, the chest piece and the turnister, as well as part of the left arm have already been completely nailed and, as you can see, under expert supervision. As we have learnt, 31,000 nails had already been hammered in by Sunday, which is all the more to the glory of our sacrificing population, as it was only recently reported from Vienna that the local soldier in iron had already been nailed with 100,000 nails."

Since 1930, Mount Isel has been a foundation in eternal memory of the four Tyrolean Kaiserjäger regiments. The Book of Honour, which is also on display in the Kaiserjägermuseum, comprises 157 volumes in which the names of the Tyroleans who fell in 1809 and in the two world wars were recorded by hand. In the late days of the Austrian corporative state, the books of honour of the Tyrolean Kaiserjäger were deposited under a crown of thorns to demonstrate the suffering of the divided Tyrol and a laurel wreath in honour of the fallen. In 1959, the Tyrolean provincial government had the Hall of Honour of the Kaiserjäger built around the memorial chapel "Unserer hohen Frau von Tirol".

The small park in front of the two museums was the firing range of the Tyrolean Kaiserjäger. The shooting ranges at the southern end of the square are well worth seeing. It has always been customary for subjects to train in military skills and the use of weapons. Shooting clubs are still the bearers of this tradition today, even if they are increasingly being criticised for their understanding of Tyrolean culture.

To the west of the Andreas Hofers monument, a chapel and a bronze statue of Emperor Franz Josef I adorn the square in front of the shooting ranges. The statue was actually erected opposite the Kaiserjägermuseum on 18 August 1830 to mark the emperor's 100th birthday. It was only later that the bronze statue of Franz Josef was given its current location.

The Urichhaus building at the western end of the square, which is well worth seeing, was built between 1893 and 1895 in the Heimatstil style according to plans by Eduard Klingler. It has served as an officers' mess and administration building since 1893. Today it is home to the local branch of the Tyrolean Kaiserjägerbund and the Alt-Kaiserjäger-Club and a military science library.

Over the centuries, a recreational area with footpaths developed around the military buildings and shooting ranges. As early as the 19th century, Mount Isel became a popular excursion destination. Unmarried couples in particular appreciated the seclusion on walks to follow the new fashion of the Flirtens away from prying eyes. Flirting now takes place elsewhere, but walkers and hikers still get their money's worth on Berg Isel. A hiking trail leads from the museum car park around Berg Isel. The path is pleasant to walk and offers a magnificent panorama. The highlight is the Sonnendeck viewing platform, where you can look down into the Sill Gorge from a dizzying height. The 2 kilometre walk is suitable for anyone with a normal level of fitness. Families with children can also tackle the circular trail.

Away from the museums and monuments, Mount Isel becomes Innsbruck's Olympic landmark. Ski jumping has a long tradition in Tyrol. In the early 1920s, the sport invented by Norwegians was practised by daring athletes on ski jumps in Seefeld or near Heiligwasser on the Patscherkofel. In 1927, the first official ski jumping event took place on Mount Isel as part of the Tyrolean Skiing Championships. The athletes and spectators had to make do with a natural ski jump in the first year. A tower was built the following year. The ski jumping facility was extended in 1933 for the World Ski Championships in Innsbruck, not only to beat the record distance of 63 metres, but also to cope with the crowds of spectators. Jakob Albert played a key role in the planning. The diving tower collapsed during the war and was only rebuilt after the Second World War.

The highlights on Berg Isel were the Olympic Games in 1964 and 1976, when the ski jump allowed for even greater distances after the conversion and the new arena was the venue for both opening ceremonies. The Olympic rings on the outrun are a reminder of these memorable events for Berg Isel and Innsbruck.

In 1985 and 2019 (Seefeld), further major sporting events took place on Mount Isel with the World Championships. Ski jumping fans from all over the world come every year to the Four hills tour to Innsbruck, when the best athletes boldly venture over the inrun and jump into the sizzling atmosphere in the Berg Isel stadium. For the international competition between Tyrol and Bavaria in the form of their ski jumpers, Andreas Hofer and the Tyrolean "Fight for freedom" from 1809 as a comparison.

The facility also served as a stage away from sport. Pope John Paul II was welcomed by tens of thousands of believers in 1988 and held a mass. A dark chapter in Innsbruck's city history occurred in 1999 at the snowboard festival Air&Style. Bei einer Massenpanik wurden 40 Menschen schwer verletzt, fünf Opfer erlagen ihren Verletzungen.

Many Innsbruck residents were there live as spectators from the Olympic Bridge in 2002 when the concrete tower collapsed to make way for the new ski jump. The design of the ski jump as it looks today is the work of star architect Zaha Hadid, who was also in charge of the new Hungerburgbahn. A lift takes you up to the ski jump where you can enjoy coffee and cake high above Innsbruck with a fantastic panorama.

Just above the Brenner Pass, the Vennebach has its source at an altitude of over 2300 metres. After a short stopover next to the motorway in the Brenner lake, its ice-cold water, now under its better-known name of Sill, flows towards Innsbruck. On the way, several streams and rivers from the Alpine side valleys supply the Sill and cause it to swell to considerable dimensions. Between Gärberbach and Wilten Abbey, the river has formed a spectacular landscape. The Sill Gorge is a narrow gorge between the town, Brenner railway, main road and motorway, which not only offers peace and quiet, but also a very special flair. Hardly a ray of sunshine makes it past the trees and rocks. The mystical landscape has always been surrounded by an air of the uncanny and has been the source of many a story. Urban Legends. It all started with the dragon of the Haymonsagewhich had its nest in the Sill gorge and kept the inhabitants of Wilten on their toes with its destructive rage as early as late antiquity. In the 19th century, the Innsbruck news regularly reported horror stories from the wilderness surrounding the town. Robbers and murderers liked to hide from the authorities in the Sill Gorge. There were also forbidden meetings of socialist "agitators", missing persons, drowned people, woodworkers who had accidents, hikers who had accidents, mysterious corpses and suicides. The most gruesome crimes, however, were less mysterious and were carried out deliberately and by order. During the Nazi era, deserters were executed in the Sill Gorge. In more recent times, homeless people settled away from the town while young people met up for parties and raves without official authorisation.

Despite the creepy factor, or perhaps because of it, the Sillschlucht is one thing above all: Innsbruck's most beautiful recreational area. In summer, it offers heat-seekers cosy bathing spots, while in winter you can admire mighty icicles abseiling from the rock faces. The mild autumn sunlight colours the leaves of the mixed forest particularly beautifully. Bizarre rock formations, ivy and small waterfalls line the banks of the sometimes slow-flowing, then wildly thundering waters. Bridges and footbridges lead across the river again and again and allow beautiful views of the impressive, wildly romantic landscape. In the centre of the Sill Gorge, the Berg Isel Panorama Trail branches off, leading to the Dragon rock with its spectacular viewing platform. In the southern section, the trail becomes a narrow path that requires a little sure-footedness and appropriate footwear, but can also be walked with children without any major problems. After heavy rainfall and thunderstorms, there are frequent closures due to landslides. Shortly before Gärberbach, you walk past gardens with small weekend houses before reaching the spectacular viaduct at the end of the Sillschlucht gorge.

On one of the mighty pillars under the bridge, a bronze plaque commemorates the protracted restoration of the panoramic path. In 1907, the idea of opening up the gorge, which was difficult to access, to hikers emerged for the first time. Due to the impassability of the terrain and the bad reputation of the Sillschlucht gorge, it was to take 25 years before the Sillschluchtweg was opened up to hikers by the Innsbruck Beautification Association could be handed over to the city.

There are several places to enter the Sill Gorge. From the inn Wooden cellar a path leads past the construction site of the Brenner base tunnel to the start of the walk directly by the river. If you are travelling by car, you can park on Mount Isel and descend directly from there. A little further south, a path leads from the Sonnenburger Hof to the middle section of the Sillschlucht gorge. If you want to start the walk from the end, you can take the bus or drive to Gärberbach. Next to the plaque on the bridge, a stone by one of the green benches of the Beautification Association at the northern end of the Sill Gorge, which Schober Ruhto the chairman of the association, under whose aegis the path was created and the wild gorge tamed and opened to walkers.

On the south-western outskirts of the city, the Mentlberg Castle and pilgrimage church are two little-noticed gems of Innsbruck's history. The ensemble has probably undergone the most changes of use and ownership of all. Aristocratic residence, place of pilgrimage, hotel, boarding school, barracks, sports centre - nowhere is Innsbruck as versatile as at the foot of the Wiltenberg.

The castle was given its current appearance between 1902 and 1905. The French Prince Ferdinand of Bourbon-Orleans, Duke of Vendome, had acquired the castle 15 years earlier for himself and his wife Sophie, a sister of the Austrian Empress Elisabeth, as a hunting lodge, farm and holiday home. It was probably the location on the edge of the forest, close to the town in the middle of the Alps, that particularly appealed to the couple. Sissi, like her sister more fond of country life than the strict court etiquette of Vienna, was a frequent guest. Fully committed to the French high aristocracy, the prince had his estate remodelled in the spirit of historicism in the form of a Loire chateau in order to have at least a small piece of home in the province of Germany's hereditary enemy. The driveway and boundary wall facing the forest also leave no doubt as to the noble origins of the owners. The neo-Gothic tower at the eastern end with its striking pyramid-shaped roof bears the coat of arms of the French aristocratic house.

The lower part of the estate, where there is a farmstead, meadows and fields, is completely different. Here, the aristocrats showed their love for the Tyrolean country life, which they considered unspoilt. In order to fully satisfy his and his Bavarian wife's rural desires, the duke also acquired the so-called Lower FiggeThe site is now Sieglanger on the banks of the Inn, where he had stables, garages, a park with a greenhouse and a staff annex built.

However, the history of the estate goes back much further. It was first mentioned in 1305 as an estate of Wilten Abbey. The Courtyard on the Gallwiese comprised several hectares of land and the forest rights on the Wiltenberg. Elevated in front of the town, Mentlberg was ideal for a watchtower. Via beacons, so-called Chalk fire the town could be warned of approaching danger. The abbots of Wilten came here on summer holidays to spend the hot season away from monastery politics.

Heinrich Mentlberger, owner of today's Weinhaus Happ, town magistrate and mayor, acquired the estate from Wilten Abbey in 1485. The enterprising contemporary of Maximilian was elevated to the nobility by his sovereign as a member of the Imperial Council, turning Mentlberg from a country estate into the noble baronial estate that gave it its name. Numerous changes of ownership within the aristocracy followed over the next few centuries before Leopold Lindner acquired the estate in 1884. Lindner did not come from the aristocracy, but his ancestors were involved with the Wilten-based company Rosenbacher's Eidam had amassed a considerable fortune as a supplier of farm produce. Like other industrialists of his time, he invested his capital in the growing tourism sector. Lindner saw the potential of the estate in this time of new beginnings and the gold rush of tourism. In Egerdach, which had been benefiting from its spring since 1620, and the Kurhaus in Mühlau, there were already two successful spa and bathing establishments near Innsbruck. A hotel boarding house was created in the count's ambience, which resembled a wellness hotel today. Guests enjoyed treatments such as spruce needle, brine and mineral baths.

The First World War gave the estate a new use. Like Ambras Castle, Mentlberg also became a military hospital. Soldiers were treated in the lung sanatorium. Despite the renovation of the castle at public expense after the war, Duke Ferdinand von Bourbon-Orleans wanted to get rid of his Austrian property. In 1926, the province of Tyrol, an association of Innsbruck innkeepers led by the Hotel Grauer Bär as well as the Alpine Holzindustrie GmbH aus Laibach für das Schloss Mentlberg und den damit zusammenhängenden Besitz. Laibach war erst seit kurzem nicht mehr Teil der Österreichischen Monarchie, sondern ein Teil des Königreichs Jugoslawien, die wirtschaftlichen Verbindungen waren aber aufrecht geblieben. Um 400.000 Schilling erwarb das jugoslawische Unternehmen das Anwesen. Der Plan, das Schloss erneut in ein Hotel zu verwandeln, scheiterte aber nach anfänglicher Euphorie und hohen Investments. Nur zwei Jahre später gingen die insgesamt 70 Hektar Grund um 600.000 Schilling an das Land Tirol. Der Gallwiesenhof on the Mentlberg was to be transformed into a model estate for agricultural training purposes, with the castle serving as accommodation for the students and apprentices of the educational establishment. The bold plan to Lower Figge to build a bathing beach on the Inn never materialised. Instead, the land was used in the 1930s for the construction of the Dollfuß and fishermen's housing estate.

In 1932, the castle was to be used as a home for mothers and babies, but this proposal was rejected by the provincial parliament due to the overly ostentatious ambience. In the financially difficult times after the economic crisis, the provincial government decided to lease the castle as a hotel for 6,000 shillings in order to relieve the provincial budget.

The plan to organise the slalom of the 1933 World Ski Championships on the Mentlberg also failed, not because of finances but because of the snow conditions, at least in that year. The following year, the slopes next to the castle ""...the 40 best-placed downhill skiers in the Pfriemesköpfl - Mutters race... for the prize of honour of Federal Chancellor Dr Dollfuß...“

In the late 1930s and the post-war period, Mentlberg Castle was used for military and administrative purposes. After being used as a barracks by the Austrian army, it was the location of the Reich Labour Service. Under the law, young men and women were obliged to work as Soldiers of labour to take on charitable work. In addition to the educational and disciplinary component of this service as part of propaganda, the Nazi regime also succeeded in drastically reducing the unemployment figures in the areas newly annexed to the Reich in one fell swoop. After the war, the French occupying forces took up residence in the castle for a short time before it once again became a school and apprenticeship centre. After 2015, the building was used as a refugee centre. The province of Tyrol is currently converting Mentlberg into a centre for disaster control in compliance with the preservation order.

To the east of the castle is the Mentlberg pilgrimage church, a classic product of the Baroque period. An officer in the imperial army brought a statue of the Mother of God with the body of Jesus back to Tyrol from his deployment in the Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648). Due to economic hardship and war, the 17th century was the heyday of Christian superstition, in which people attributed their personal fate to the intervention of saints. The soldier's father, Ferdinand von Khuepach, zu Ried, was the owner of Mentlberg Castle and decided to erect the wooden figure in the small chapel on his estate. Similar to the Tummelplatz, the "Sorrowful mother on the Gallwiese" miraculous healings here too. Wilten Abbey reacted quickly to promote the pilgrimage. The abbot had seven picture pillars erected along the path from Wilten to Mentlberg and renovated the ageing chapel. The Seven Sleepers, an ancient legend of seven young martyrs from Ephesus, were particularly revered as intercessors in cases of high fever and insomnia. The abbot of Wilten Abbey therefore had a depiction of the grotto in which the seven boys were imprisoned erected in the chapel.

Im 18. Jahrhundert wurde Mentlberg zu einem veritablen Wallfahrtsort. Ob es die Schönheit des Ortes samt der tollen Aussicht auf das Inntal oder der offizielle, sehr barocke Name der Kirche „Our Lady of Sorrows“ war, der die Menschen anzog, kann nicht mehr nachvollzogen werden. 1770 wurde nach Plänen von Konstantin Johann Walter, unter anderem Architekt der Triumphpforte und des Umbaus der Hofburg, die bis heute bestehende Kirche im Rokokostil errichtet. Das Deckengemälde mit der Kreuzigungsszene ist typische für diese Zeit. Die Grotte der Siebenschläfer wurde ebenso in die neue Kirche integriert wie das Altarbild der Gnadenmutter und die Holzplastik. Votivbilder zeugen bis heute von der Wundergläubigkeit der frommen Bürger. Heute ist die Kirche am Mentlberg, ob ihrer angenehmen Größe, der wunderschönen barocken Innenausstattung und des Blicks auf die Stadt Innsbruck bei Hochzeitspaaren äußerst beliebt. Vom Schloss startend lassen sich wunderbare Spaziergänge zum Natterer See, dem Eichhof und weiter ins Mittelgebirge unternehmen.

The well-organised little houses in the housing estate in the west of the city with their front gardens on the quiet street are reminiscent of an American suburb from the 1950s. Unlike the suburbs on the other side of the Atlantic, however, Sieglanger was built before the war. At the beginning of the 1930s, when the misery of the Great Depression had also replaced the misery of the post-war period in Tyrol, the city of Innsbruck was faced with a dilemma. The city coffers were empty and at the same time the number of people moving to Innsbruck was increasing. People came to the city to find work, although unemployment here was also unimaginably high by today's standards. According to estimates, every fourth adult Austrian was unemployed in the early 1930s. Added to this was inflation, which had destroyed a great deal of wealth. Several shanty towns and houses, such as the Bocksiedlung, developed in a wild and disorganised manner.

In order to counteract the urban planning chaos, under Mayor Franz Fischer and Federal Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuß, municipal housing construction began to be promoted. However, this required the help of the Republic, as the municipality could not finance these plans on its own. Innsbruck was forced to finance the planned "Resettlement programmes for the unemployed for sideline purposes“ vom Bundes-Wohn- und Siedlungsfonds vorfinanzieren zu lassen. Die Gebäude, die errichtet wurden, spiegelten die geistige Grundhaltung in der Gesellschaftspolitik des austrofaschistischen Regimes des österreichischen Ständestaats unter Kanzler Engelbert Dollfuß und seines Nachfolgers Kurt Schuschnigg wider. Anders als die großen Bauten, die aus dem von vielen verhassten Red Vienna kamen und sich in Blöcken wie Burgen um Innenhöfe anordneten, sollten die kleinen, alleinstehenden Häuser mit Vorgarten eine ländliche Idylle simulieren. Eigentum sorgt für Sicherheit, Zufriedenheit und Staatstreue und sollte die Menschen von den Übeln des Sozialismus fernhalten, so die Denkweise. Der Bunde konnte so auch seinen Einfluss innerhalb der Gemeinden erhöhen, die bei der Wohnungsvergabe weniger Spielraum hatten. Zwischen den Häusern wurden Kleintierställe geplant, die zusammen mit den Gärten eine teilweise Selbstversorgung ermöglichten. Die bäuerliche Familie als katholische Keimzelle sollte dem sozialistischen Ideal der großen, republikanischen Gemeinschaft entgegenstehen. Sowohl architektonische wie auch ideologisch betrachtet war diese Siedlung im Westen der Stadt das Gegenteil von den Projekten in wie der Mandelsberger settlement in Wilten or the Pembaurblock in Pradl. Der Gedanke, der hinter dem Sieglanger stand, war identisch mit dem Gedanken den US-amerikanische konservative Politiker in der Nachkriegszeit auf den Neubau ihrer Vorstädte hatten:

The housing estates were built from 1934. As the city's building director, Jakob Alberts implemented this project without his social democratically orientated partner Theodor Prachensky, who was otherwise often consulted for the planning. The future residents helped to build their homes. Self-sufficient gardens were to enable the residents to feed the estate self-sufficiently, at least to a certain extent. In the following years up to 1937, the houses of the Lohbachsiesdlung at the Ulfiswiese and the Hörtnaglsiedlung at the Allerheiligenhöfe. In order to enjoy one of the coveted flats, you had to follow the Vaterländischen Frontthe all-determining unity party. One of the settlements was named after the mayor of Innsbruck, Franz Fischer, in Fishermen's settlement named. The second, which was built by Home from Siglanger No 61 - 93 was built, was named Dr-Dollfuß-Siedlung. In 1938, the National Socialist mayor Egon Denz baptised the little houses in Sieglangeriedlung around. In the 1950s, the Bishop of Innsbruck, Paulus Rusch, took up the idea of a small housing estate with its own self-sufficient garden to promote Christian coexistence in order to develop the Höttinger Au.

Despite many renovations and individual conversions, many of the little houses with their distinctive pointed roofs, which are otherwise mainly familiar from eastern Austria, have been preserved to this day. Sieglanger is no longer a social housing estate, but a middle-class neighbourhood on the western outskirts of Innsbruck. The association Traditional community Sieglanger carries the spirit and sense of community of the former settlers to the present day.