Die Pfarre Mariahilf ist Namensgeberin des Innsbrucker Stadtteils westlich der Innbrücke, der bis 1837 als Obere Anbruggen was well known. In addition to the Mariahilf church, the cemetery, the kindergarten, the Kunstkammer and the Widum are also part of an ensemble of buildings that represent an impressive example of the influence of the church on infrastructure, society and the community. The origins of the Mariahilf parish date back to the 17th century. After Swedish, French and Hessian troops had devastated large parts of neighbouring Bavaria and the town of Bregenz during the final years of the Thirty Years' War (1618 - 1648), the Tyrolean estates solemnly vowed on 1 February 1647 to donate a church to Cranach's miraculous image of Mariahilf, which now hangs in St. Jakob's Cathedral, if Tyrol was spared the ravages of war.

With this building project, the Tyrolean estates also wanted to show their political self-confidence in the face of the increasingly absolutist princess Claudia de Medici and the unpopular chancellor Biener. Christoph Gumpp was recruited as the master builder for the prestigious project. The first mass was celebrated on a provisional altar as early as 1648, and the shell of the building was completed a year later. Over the next few centuries, several generations of Tyrolean artists designed the Mariahilfkirche to its current appearance. Gumpp was probably inspired by domed buildings such as the Roman Pantheon while travelling in Italy. The interior is not a large whole, as is typical of the Baroque period, but a series of individual elements, as was common in the Renaissance. Five altar chapels give the round building its outer shape. Inside, the dome is decorated with six oval ceiling frescoes depicting the life of Mary. Six round frescoes show scenes from the Old Testament. Since Cranach's Gnadenbild MariahilfWhen the church's patron saint, to whom the church was actually intended to be dedicated, remained in the parish church of St Jakob, Michael Waldmann made a copy of the painting in 1654. The painting was integrated into the depiction of the history of the church's origins. Representatives of the four estates - clergy, nobility, peasants and citizens - kneel at the high altar in front of the new church and entrust it to Mary's protection. Above the choir arch you can see the coats of arms of Tyrol, the Casa Austria und der toskanischen Familie Medici sehen, aus der die kurz vor Beendigung des Rohbaus verstorbene Tiroler Landesfürstin stammte.

Der vielleicht wichtigste Mann der Geschichte Mariahilfs aber war kein Künstler oder Baumeister, sondern Dr. Sigismund Epp (1647 – 1720), Professor für Theologie, Prokanzler und Rektor an der Universität Innsbruck. Er stiftete zwei Benefizien, die es den Tiroler Landständen ermöglichten, die Kirche Mariahilf zu betreiben, in Folge zu erweitern und dadurch ihren Einfluss in der Stadt zu vergrößern. Der Gelehrte Epp hatte an seine Großzügigkeit mehrere Verfügungen geknüpft, darunter die Art und Weise wie der Benefiziat beschaffen sein soll:

„Zum Genuß dieses Benefiziums soll ein frommer und ehrbarer weltlicher Priester, der ein eingeborenes tyrolisches Landskind und der deutschen Sprache mächtig ist, berufen werden…. Der Benifiziat soll die Stifter in sein Gebet und andere gute Werke einschließen.“

Through the Mariahilf chaplaincy, the Tyrolean provincial estates were able to form a counterpoint to the Jesuits, the Tyrolean sovereign and later the government in Vienna in many important secular matters within the church. There were repeated power struggles between the powerful order and the provincial parish of Mariahilf, particularly when it came to education and the university. After Epp's death, the privilege of being a university church was transferred from Mariahilf to the Holy Trinity Church of the Soldiers of Christ.

Since Maria Theresa and Joseph II, the increasingly centralised state had been particularly keen to bring educational matters away from the church and under the wing of the state. In the early 1850s, the Mariahilf priest Caspar Weyrer founded his own school. A few decades earlier, the attempt to found a separate institute in Mariahilf away from the St Nicholas' Trivial School had been rejected. However, Weyrer obtained capital and property through another benefactor, Elisabeth von Mayrhofer zu Koburg & Anger, in order to found the Mariahilf school independently of the state. The agreement was as follows:

„Die beiden Häuser, der Garten, der Hof, kurz den ganzen Einfang vermache ich zu einem Schulhaus oder zu einer Kinderwarth-Anstalt… die Kinder (sind) verbunden, alle Wochen einmal in der Versammlung laut einen Vaterunser und ein Avemaria zu beten.“

Für das eigene Seelenheil beten zu lassen, war in Innsbruck auch im 19. Jahrhundert noch in Mode. Mit dem Erlass eines neuen Schulgesetzes 1872, musste die Schule ihre Pforten schließen. Caspar Weyrer gründete noch im selben Jahr eine Privatschule, um dieses Gesetz zu umgehen. Weder die liberal-großdeutsche Stadtregierung noch das Ministerium in Wien wollten aber die kirchlich gelenkte Schule in Innsbrucks Bildungslandschaft haben, weshalb der k.k. Bezirksschulrat The two foundation buildings were declared unsuitable for school purposes without further ado.

However, this was not the last word. A few years earlier, the Mariahilf cemetery, which had existed since 1786, had also come under scrutiny by the authorities due to unfavourable soil conditions and the associated hygiene problems. In 1876, four years after the de facto closure of the Mariahilf school by the authorities, the Mariahilf parish drew up plans to relocate the cemetery. The Tyrolean parliamentary committee, which was still in charge of Mariahilf's destiny, acquired the land on which the Mariahilf cemetery is still located today. In a picturesque hilly location, the Tyrolean provincial cemetery with its arcades and neo-Renaissance cemetery chapel is considered the most beautiful cemetery in the city.

The relocation of the cemetery to the new site made it possible to build a school after all. Today's Mariahilf primary school opened on the former cemetery site in 1902. A small section of the cemetery chapel and wall can still be seen at the rear of the primary school. A kindergarten was opened in the former school building under the care of the Mariahilf parish.

Despite Mary's blessing and protection, the parish has suffered misfortune over the centuries. The great Innsbruck earthquake of 22 December 1689 did not spare Mariahilf and also took a considerable toll on the newly built church. The later damage was of a human nature. The bells cast by the Graßmayr bell foundry in 1837 were melted down during the First World War, as were the organ pipes, in order to make weapons from the metal. When the National Socialists came to power in 1938, the Mayrhofer Foundation, like so many church institutions, was dissolved and the assets were incorporated into the National Socialist People's Welfare Organisation. During the air raids of the Second World War, the kindergarten and the parish hall were destroyed and the church also suffered minor damage. Just before the end of the war, a 1000kg bomb landed between the kindergarten and the parish hall, but did not explode. Whether the Mother of Mercy was responsible for this could not be finally clarified.

Thanks to skilful politics, the Mariahilf parish is still the big player in the district named after it. Next to the church is the Epp´sche Benefiziatenhaus, das von Johann Martin Gumpp als Wohnhaus des Kaplans geplant wurde und heute als Kunstkammer with many exhibits and archives relating to Mariahilf. On the other side, the church is flanked by the sacristan's house and the kindergarten, which was reopened in 1952. To the north of the church is the Widum, newly built in the 19th century, with its large parish garden. Today, the parish of Mariahilf and Vinzenzkonferenz das Vereinsheim und den Kindergarten.

Die Pfarre St. Nikolaus ist eng mit der Geschichte des Innsbrucker Stadtteils bekannt, der lange Zeit als Armenviertel vor den Toren der Stadt bekannt war. Bis 1789 befand sich in St. Nikolaus das Sondersiechenhaus, in dem Menschen mit ansteckenden Krankheiten und körperlichen Deformationen fernab der Stadt hausten. Eine erste Erwähnung fand diese Institution bereits im Jahr 1313. Während das Bürgerspital in der Vorstadt war, wollte man die ansteckenden Kranken und sozial Allerschwächsten der Gesellschaft weiter vom Zentrum weghaben. Die Sondersiechen waren eine als Bettlergilde organisierte Bruderschaft, die sich durch Betteln und Almosen organisierten. Das Betteln in Innsbruck wurde durch eine eigene Ordnung geregelt. Den Vorstand bildeten der Siechenvater und seine Frau die SiechenmutterThe latter acted as a kind of representative body to the outside world and organised daily life on the inside.

From the 16th century onwards, there was also a Special screen house a chapel with a cemetery. It was dedicated to St Nicholas, who was one of the most popular saints, especially among the poorer sections of the population. St Nicholas of Myra, who is the subject of many legends, was chosen as the patron saint not only by many craft guilds, but also by thieves and prostitutes. He fitted in with the Koatlacknthe neighbourhood where the penitentiary, execution site, workers and beggars were to be found. The veneration of saints as an expression of popular piety, which was criticised as superstition by Enlightenment philosophers and Protestants, was particularly widespread among the poorest. The Handl's house opposite the church has a mosaic depiction of St Nicholas on the gable in an orthodox style, one of the first works by Albert Neuhauer's mosaic studio. The three golden spheres symbolise the three virgins who could only be married off with the help of the pious bishop from Myra and thus saved from their fate as prostitutes.

In 1851, St Nicholas was elevated to its own parish. The parish had grown rapidly during industrialisation and the old chapel had become too small. Between 1882 and 1886, the construction company Huter & Söhnewho already have the Monastery of Perpetual Adoration had built the church. The design came from the Viennese master builder Friedrich Schmidt (1825 - 1891). Schmidt was a professor of medieval architecture at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna and was also responsible for the construction of Vienna City Hall and St Stephen's Cathedral, where a memorial plaque commemorates him. In Innsbruck, he designed the Rudolfsbrunnen fountain as well as the church of St Nicholas. Schmidt characterised the neo-Gothic style of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy. Between 1870 and the First World War, sacred and secular buildings in a similar style were erected throughout the empire between Innsbruck in the west and Galicia in the east. These highly recognisable buildings still characterise the townscape of many former crown lands today. The similarity between church and government buildings created a link between the two dominant organisations of the time, the monarchy and the church.

The church tower, the pointed arched windows, the figures of St Martin, St Nicholas and Mary and Child above the entrance, the façade, the windows - everything is stylistically reminiscent of the Middle Ages. The church's Tyrolean Glass Painting and Mosaic Institute designed and manufactured windows are true works of art. When the sun shines, they flood the imposing ribbed vault decorated with paintings of saints. The eight mosaics on the façade were also created by the Wilten artisan workshop. They depict the four evangelists of the New Testament as well as the prophets Daniel, Ezekiel, Isaiah and Jeremiah. In 1906, an altar was built in a side aisle for the Herz-Jesu-Verehrung which symbolises the oath of the Holy Land of Tyrol in 1796. A war memorial at the entrance to the church commemorates the fallen soldiers of the First World War.

The cemetery surrounding the church is also worth a visit. In the Middle Ages and early modern times, this was the final resting place for the poor souls of the infirmary and the mortal remains of those who died at the nearby Köpflplatz executed. The structure of this cemetery was largely retained. It surrounds the church on three sides, framed by an arcade with columns. Today, these are imposing gravesites of deserving Innsbruck families from the 19th century onwards, inviting you to take a short stroll through time. 

Büchsenhausen today welcomes visitors in a bright yellow colour as they make their way up the steep Weiherburggasse to this place worth seeing. The old sundial on the western side of the façade, a stately entrance area, bay windows, large windows and baroque onion domes are well worth the walk.

The castle, which towers majestically over Innsbruck in neo-Gothic style, was once the Pichsen- und Gueßhaus. Peter Löffler, one of the founders of Innsbruck's early modern armaments industry, manufactured cannons and bells in his foundry here before Maximilian I had the armoury built in Saggen. His son Georg had Büchsenhausen extended into a manor house. The Löfflers had become wealthy thanks to their unique craftsmanship. Georg Löffler could therefore afford to hire master builder Gregor Türing. In the early capitalist era, the building was intended to demonstrate the importance of the family of craftsmen, who owed their prosperity to their skills and not, like the nobility, to their birthright.

Anyone looking towards the Nordkette from Innsbruck could see the imposing estate towering over the Inn, which only faded into the background when Hoettings was built on. In the book "Die Paläste und Bürgerbauten Innsbrucks“ steht zur Entstehung des Schlosses zu lesen:

„Der berühmte Geschützgießer Gregor Löffler erbaute auf einem von König Ferdinand gekauften Baumgarten am Fallbach 1539 einen Ansitz, den er nach seinem unweit davon stehenden Gußhaus Büchsenhausen nannte. Auf einem 1545 gekauften Anger unmittelbar östlich daneben errichtete er einen weiteren Bau, der ihm hauptsächlich als Wohnhaus diente.“

In the 17th century, the complex was extended by court chancellor Wilhelm Biener, who used Büchsenhausen as his residence. The legend of the Biener-Weibele back. After his execution, which many felt was unjustified, the soul of the controversial politician found no peace and haunts Büchsenhausen Castle as a ghost to this day. 

In 1837, large parts of the building were remodelled in the neo-Gothic style to its present form. Parts of the façade and the baroque tower are attributed to Johann Martin Gumpp. Today, Büchsenhausen is home to rented flats and a chapel with a beautiful painting by the well-known painter Martin Knoller. The castle is also home to the Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen.

Buildings such as Büchsenhausen Castle or Weiherburg Castle and the history of the Löfflers give an idea of the shifting balance of power from around 1500 onwards. This was the time when science slowly began to detach itself from the ecclesiastical environment. Rulers like Maximilian had recognised that it was not only soldiers who were needed to win wars. The basis for power was capital, in the case of the Habsburgs it was primarily the Fuggers and innovations such as the weapon technology of the Löfflers. Although foundrymen like Löffler were still craftsmen and not weapons technicians, their expertise was in great demand. In their day, the cannons they cast were as much of an advantage as tanks, flamethrowers or poison gas would be on the battlefields of the First World War. The range of their cannons ensured that England was victorious against the Spanish Armada, laying the foundations for the British Empire legen konnte. Im Buch Der Meister des 7. Siegels tells the story of the Löffler family, who made it from Innsbruck into the big, wide world as armourers. The high point of Innsbruck's gun production ended in 1590 when Hans Christoph Löffler moved to Vienna.

One of the most beautiful views over the city can be enjoyed from Innsbruck's Villa Blanka tourism school. Unfortunately, there is hardly anything left of the neo-Gothic villa from 1882, which the artist Edgar Mayer had built for himself. After several changes of ownership, the Innsbruck municipal council bought the property in 1936 with the financial support of the Sparkasse. The park and the beautiful building were to be open to all citizens. The villa was leased out as a coffee house to replenish the city's empty coffers in the interwar period.

During National Socialism, the building was first used by the Nazi women's organisation as a training centre for "music and celebration design" and later as a training centre for the catering industry. After the war, the province of Tyrol leased the property to set up a vocational school for the tourism professionals of the future. After the turmoil of the war, tourism was to regain its former strength. The basis for this was well-trained chefs, waiters and hoteliers. After the time-honoured Villa Blanka no longer met the requirements, a modern school building was erected on the site of the magnificent building in 1967 according to Hubert Prachensky's plans. Only a small arch and two stone benches remain in the well-tended garden in front of the modern new building as a reminder of the old Villa Blanka.

What remains from the Belle Epoque and the interwar period is the park, which is still open to the public today. The association Tyrolean Ornithological Institute built a modern bird enclosure as part of the takeover of the park with money from the Sparkasse fund. The smooth and round shape of the cages with the cubic centre sections is a typical example of the modern architecture of the 1930s in Innsbruck. Architect Siegfried Thurner, who had also designed the Theresienkirche on the Hungerburg, planned three open-air areas, each five metres long and three metres high, connected to each other by heated interior spaces. The individual areas were to present the lowland zone, low mountain range and high mountain range. Visitors to the park should be able to view native birds in the most species-appropriate environment possible thanks to the elaborate interior design. The aviary can be regarded as the nucleus of the Alpine Zoo, which was founded in 1962.

The selection of birds presented to visitors over the decades is interesting. Initially it was mainly alpine, native animals, but during the 90s and 00s the taste changed towards exotic parrots before the aviary stood empty for a few years in 2005. Since 2022, the enclosure has been populated by collared parakeets, among others. These birds, originally native to Pakistan, south-east China and Sri Lanka, have been resident in Innsbruck's Hofgarten since 1978, after a couple fled from a villa in Saggen. The refugees multiplied to as many as 30 birds in the 1990s thanks to abundant feeding by delighted walkers in the Hofgarten and a warm winter quarters under the roof of the Kongresshaus. The renovation of the Kongresshaus and the removal of the hibernation site cost many of the exotic birds their lives. The specimens in the Villa Blanka aviary can be read as an example of the biodiversity of modern Tyrol.

Just above the school is the second remnant of the old Villa Blanka. A pavilion with a stone floor and bronze dome stands somewhat secluded at the edge of the grounds. It seems to have fallen out of time, a kind of lost place. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, pavilions were an integral part of leisure facilities such as parks and promenades until the First World War. Here, walkers could rest and young couples were protected from prying eyes. In the private sphere, pavilions were long the domain of the aristocracy before the middle classes adopted this architectural element to demonstrate their wealth.

To the north of the town, elevated above the River Inn, is Weiherburg Castle, which has had a number of prominent residents in its long history. Around 1460, Christian Tänzel had it built as his private residence. Tänzel was one of the many up-and-coming citizens who were able to capitalise on this period of upheaval in Tyrol. He had made his fortune in the booming silver mining industry in Schwaz.

The silver mine in Schwaz was the largest of its kind in the world. It had changed the country and its social order like nothing before. With its 20,000 inhabitants, Schwaz was one of the three largest towns in the Habsburg Empire in the 16th century. A new middle class emerged with the miners. The majority of the workers were unskilled, but trained miners were sought-after labourers who came to Tyrol from all over the German-speaking world. These foreigners not only brought their labour, but also new customs, eating habits, traditions and religious views to the country. Tänzel, however, was less middle class than manager and top earner. At times, the Tratzberg Castlethe mighty castle near Schwaz, to his property portfolio. In 1483, Tänzel and his descendants were elevated to the nobility. The Weiherburg was intended to represent this. The residence was close to the court of Prince Siegmund and yet pleasantly removed from the narrow town centre.

Siegmund erwarb das Anwesen von ihm, um verdiente Mitglieder des Hofes wie seinen Leibarzt damit zu verwöhnen. Siegmunds Nachfolger auf der Weiherburg Maximilian I., der dem Anwesen auch seinen Namen gab, nutzte die Weiherburg der Legende nach gerne als Jagdschloss, wenn er in Innsbruck weilte. 1560 kam die Weiherburg in den Besitz Anna Welsers. Sie stammte aus der reichen Augsburger Kaufmannsdynastie, die nicht nur die Weiherburg, sondern über ihr Investment in Maximilian den gesamten Tiroler Bergbau übernommen hatten. Ihre Tochter Philippine war mit Ferdinand II. verheiratet. Die Weiherburg war näher an der Stadt als Schloss Ambras, was für den Regenten recht praktisch war, wenn er die damals beschwerliche Reise in den Süden nicht antreten wollte.

The current purpose of the Weiherburg also goes back to Ferdinand II. He laid the foundations for today's Alpine Zoo with a small zoo opened in 1591. Unlike today's zoo, the Renaissance prince and hunting enthusiast did not limit himself to the Alpine mountain world. Monkeys, lions, leopards, peacocks and ostriches were brought to Innsbruck for the amusement of the prince and his court. The Alpine Zoo has been open to everyone since 1962. The terraced zoo is home to bears, lynxes, wolves, otters, beavers and many other animals from the Alpine region.

After several changes of ownership, the building came into the hands of Rifle Major Philipp von Wörndle, who commanded the Schlacht von Spinges gegen die Übermacht der französischen Armee im Tiroler Abwehrkampf 1796 gewonnen hatte. Die Jungfrau von SpingesKatharina Lanz, who fought alongside the troops, is the Tyrolean equivalent of Joan of Arc. Wörndle's son-in-law had the castle remodelled in the 19th century and gave it its current appearance.

The last owners of the Weiherburg were the von Attlmayr family. They ran the estate as a hotel. Wealthy English and American tourists made it possible to maintain the large estate even after the upheavals of 1848. The last representative of this centuries-old dynasty was Richard von Attlmayr (1831 - 1910), a typical representative of the Innsbruck elite of his time. As a member of the Innsbruck Beautification Association and the Crown Prince Rudolf Veterans' Association, he demonstrated his nobility in the context of the developing civil society, in which the upper middle classes and aristocrats were virtuously united.

In 1911, the city of Innsbruck acquired the entire site. In doing so, it also took on an obligation that led to the preservation of the listed grave of another "Richard" at Weiherburg Castle. During a month-long stay at Weiherburg Castle, Richard Tooth, an Englishman who was only 22 years old but seriously ill, died in February 1840. His grave was preserved by the then lord of the castle, Josef von Attlmayr, for a fee and has survived over time. Today the grave is a Richardsruhe and is a listed building.

Today, the Weiherburg hosts changing exhibitions organised by the Innsbruck Alpine Zoo.

Ferdinand-Weyrer-Straße, a small road between Hallerstraße and Arzlerstraße, is home to the Arbeiterwohnhaus und dem Weyrerareal two building complexes that set the stage for both of Innsbruck's industrial revolutions. The best way to enter the Weyrer area is from the Mühlau village square with the village fountain, which already points to industrialisation. Passing the baroque manor house with its chapel, you reach the square in front of the workers' housing. A sign above the passageway shows three workers and bears the inscription: "Honour the work and respect the worker". Directly underneath, a metal plaque certifies the United Cloth Factories Baur-Foradori Part of the Tyrolean Adler quality brand to be and Genuine Tyrolean Loden to be built. The unadorned façade of the residential building is a well-preserved relic from the time of the turn-of-the-century tenements in which the workers lived. If you are lucky enough to find the entrance unlocked, you can admire the remarkable cast-iron staircase in the inner courtyard.

The energy-generating Mühlbach stream flows lively between the buildings, which made this place so suitable for early industrialisation. The Zeughaus and Büchsenhausen have been Innsbruck's early industrial areas since the 15th century thanks to the metalworking factories. Under the Tyrolean Prince Sigmund, a metal industry was established in Mühlau. Armour was produced in the plating workshop, allowing noblemen to present their military merits and skills in a fashionable way. However, as requirements grew, these two areas became too small. As early as 1511, master builder Nicolas Türing erected a foundry on the site of the workers' residence. The lively babbling Mühlaubach stream and the location on the main road were perfect for the foundry, which produced the figures for Maximilian's tomb in the Hofkirche, among other things. In the adjoining Bilderhaus wurde eine Säulenhalle errichtet, in der die fertigen Figuren untergebracht wurden. Als die Arbeit an den Schwarzen Manndern abgeschlossen war, wurde die Betriebsanlage, die strategisch gut am Ostende der Stadt lag, zum Münzwalzwerk umfunktioniert. Die Gusshalle des ehemaligen Bilderhauses samt Kreuzgewölbe und Säulen wurde saniert und ist bis heute erhalten.

The second industrialisation began in the 19th century. Like everywhere else in the world, the driving force was the textile industry. Johann Weyrer founded a woollen cloth factory in 1790. He soon had competition within the town. Daniel Friedmann and Franz Baur also produced for the growing local demand. In 1838, the Weyrers, who had come under pressure, moved to Mühlau, where there was space and energy for a modern factory. In 1875, Ferdinand Weyrer (1842 - 1892) took over the sheep's wool factory that his grandfather had built up. Much of Weyrer's career is reminiscent of the Epp family, whose villa and factory were located in Pradl. Both men epitomise the image of the bourgeois, hard-working entrepreneur with a public spirit. The entrepreneur, who was popular with the workers, was the founder of the fire brigade and mayor of the then independent village of Mühlau. In order to have his private residence close to the factory, he had the southern section fitted with a flat roof.

In 1889, the city's third large textile company also relocated Franz Baur & Sons from the business premises in Sillgasse to what is now Ferdinand-Weyrer-Straße 9. The northern part of the building was converted into a residential building by the Baur family. Workers who had moved to the city from the surrounding countryside lived in this building. The social change brought about by the changing world of work can also be seen in buildings like this one. Those who moved from the countryside to the city not only changed their address, but their entire lifestyle.

1890 und 1900 entstanden die Gebäude mit den Nummern 7 und 11. Ein Kesselhaus, eine Fabrikhalle und sogar ein eigenes kleines Elektrizitätswerk waren dort untergebracht. Im Obergeschoss befanden sich Wohnungen. Auch die Villa Baur, das Privathaus der Familie, befand sich in diesem Komplex. In den 1920er Jahren wurde der Betrieb nochmals erweitert. Das Haus Ferdinand-Weyrer-Straße 5 wurde vom bekannten Tiroler Architekten und Designer Clemens Holzmeister entworfen. Nachdem 1943 der Bau nochmals erweitert wurde, verlagerte sich nach erneutem Platzmangel 1955 ein Teil des Betriebs in die Reichenau. In den 1970er Jahren wurde die Baur´sche Produktion am Weyrerareal endgültig aufgelassen. Seither wird das Areal, teils liebevoll renoviert, von unterschiedlichen Kleinunternehmen besiedelt.

Innsbrucks Gasthäuser tragen häufig alpine Tiernamen. Das Vier-Viecher-Eck in der Altstadt beherbergt einige davon. Weitere schwarze Adler, graue und schwarze Bären oder Lämmer belegen die die Tierliebe der heimischen Wirte. Wie aber kam es, dass in Innsbruck ein Gasthaus den Namen Elephant verpasst bekam? Im Jahr 1551 beschloss die nach Portugal verheiratete Erzherzogin Johanna von Österreich ihrem Schwager, dem späteren Kaiser Maximilian II., ein kostbares Geschenk zu machen. Portugal war zu dieser Zeit die führende Handels- und Seemacht Europas. 1494, kurz nach der europäischen Entdeckung der Neuen Welt beschlossen Spanien und Portugal gar eine Aufteilung der Welt. Mit dem Papst als Schiedsrichter wurde ein Großteil der außereuropäischen damals bekannten Welt im Vertrag von Tordesillas aufgeteilt. Zum Besitz des portugiesischen Königreichs gehörten damit Teile der afrikanischen Küste. Das Geschenk, das den exotischen Reichtum Portugals bezeugen sollte, war ein Elefant namens Soliman. Sein neues Herrchen Maximilian und dessen Entourage machten sich mit Soliman im Gepäck nach dem Besuch der habsburgischen Verwandten in Portugal von Valladolid aus auf den langen Weg in die Heimat nach Wien. Über Barcelona, Genua, Trient und Bozen erreichte der Tross Innsbruck. Von hier aus ging es über den Inn weiter Richtung Osten. Aus Innsbruck gibt es schriftliche Augenzeugenberichte von ungläubigen Zeitgenossen, die das exotische Tier bestaunten. Maximilians Anhang übernachtete in Innsbruck am Dreikönigstag 1552 in einem Gasthaus in Anpruggen, der heutigen Innstraße 87. Seit 1661 nannte sich diese Wirtschaft nach dem aufsehenerregenden Tier. Nicht nur in Innsbruck, auch in Auer bei Bozen und Brixen in Südtirol nannten sich Gaststätten nach dem durchreisenden Elefanten. Auf dem Linzer Hauptplatz trägt ein Gebäude am Hauptplatz der Stadt ein Relief mit einem Elefanten. Das Gasthaus zum Elephanten war ein beliebter Treffpunkt der Innsbrucker Arbeiterschaft. Während der Zeit der metternich´schen Geheimpolizei zwischen 1816 und 1848 wurde es verstärkt überwacht, befürchtete man unter den Handwerkern doch das Kursieren republikanischer, sozialistischer, anarchistischer oder gar kommunistischer Ideen aus Italien, Frankreich oder der Schweiz. 1910 schloss das Gasthaus Elefant in Innsbruck seine Pforten. Heute ist das baufällige Gebäude in St. Nikolaus nur mehr ein unauffälliger Zeuge einer bemerkenswerten Geschichte.

Weniger spektakulär was die namensgebende Geschichte des Hauses betrifft, dafür schöner anzusehen ist der Gasthof zur Eiche im Nachbargebäude, besonders der Eingangsbereich. Der Torbogen wird typisch für die Renaissancezeit des 16. Jahrhunderts von der Antike nachempfundenen Säulen flankiert. Im oberen Bereich finden sich fantasievolle Delphine wieder. Nikolaus Türing der Jüngere war der Baumeister des mittlerweile denkmalgeschützten Hauses, das mindestens seit 1640 als Gastwirtschaft betrieben wurde. Bis heute ist die Eiche der Treffpunkt der Koatlackn. Hier trafen sich immer schon Studenten, Arbeiter, Akademiker, Alt und Jung.

The penitentiary was once located where the flats and shops are today. The core of the building dates back to the 18th century. The three-storey building stretches along the Innrain. A small tower crowns the barrack-like building with arcades, which today houses shops and restaurants. The look and feel of the inner courtyard with its remarkable fountain and barred windows is still reminiscent of the past uses of the Turnusvereinshaus.

In the 18th century, not only did the number of citizens grow, but the rate of beggars and alms recipients also skyrocketed. Coupled with the emergence of a new, more enlightened understanding of the law, the need for "to detain labour-shy and dissolute people and to take in the individuals arriving with thrust". For a long time, the plan to open a new prison failed due to lack of funding. It was only thanks to the plan to finance the construction through forced labour that the prison could be completed. In 1725, after almost fifteen years of construction work, the prison opened its doors.

The new prison was not a prison like the former dungeon in the Kräuterturm, but a workhouse. The inmates were expected to pay for their stay with their own labour. Around 300 people worked under the most difficult conditions in the linen factory and later in the loden factory. The most common offences were theft, assault, murder and infanticide, which was nothing other than abortion after birth.

They were not only convicts, beggars were also expected to pay for their existence here. Were these liederlichen Leute during the Middle Ages and the early modern period under the patronage of ecclesiastical institutions such as the special sieve house The attitude towards people unable to work had changed during the all-rationalising Enlightenment. In line with the ideas of the Enlightenment, this was intended to serve the good of society as well as provide the offender with individual improvement and integration.

1859 kaufte die Stadt Innsbruck das Gebäude und gab es an den Turnusverein der Stadt Innsbruck weiter. Es war zu dieser Zeit Sitte und Pflicht, dass Bürger der Stadt Soldaten auf Durchmarsch bei sich zu Hause aufnahmen. Mit den Kriegshandlungen in Italien mehrte sich auch die Zahl der durchmarschierenden Soldaten, die über den Brenner zu den Schlachtfeldern transportiert wurden. Wer es sich leisten konnte, wurde Mitglied des Einquartierungs-Turnusvereins and was thus able to hand over the soldiers, who were supposed to be accommodated in their own homes, to the Turnusvereinshaus.

This civic duty was cancelled in 1869. With the opening of the railway line over the Brenner Pass, the stopover in Innsbruck also disappeared. The drastically reduced time needed to get soldiers from A to B not only revolutionised warfare, but also made facilities such as the Turnusvereinshaus redundant.

As a result, the Turnus clubhouse was converted into a state gendarmerie command.

During the First World War, the building served as a temporary storage centre for Italian prisoners of war. The Turnusvereinshaus had once again become a prison. Most of the imprisoned soldiers only stayed in Innsbruck for a short time. They were relocated to larger camps in eastern Austria, including Mauthausen.

Today, Innsbruck's prison is located on the western outskirts of the city and bears the name "Zieglstadl“, da vor der Übersiedlung 1964 an dieser Stelle eine Ziegelbrennerei zu finden war.

Am Innufer vor dem Turnusvereinshaus bietet der sogenannte „Dürerblick“ einen schönen Panoramablick auf die Altstadt. Hier saß Albrecht Dürer 1495 wohl, als er die Skizzen für sein berühmtes Aquarell der Stadt Innsbruck anlegte. Das Werk selbst entstand später in seiner Werkstatt in Nürnberg. Das Original des Bildes „Innsprugg from the north" hangs today in the Albertina Vienna.

You could say that the Inn Bridge was the birthplace of Innsbruck. It gave the city its name and for a long time was the only bridge that connected today's old town with the older districts of St. Nikolaus and Mariahilf. The first surviving coat of arms of Innsbruck dates back to 1267 and shows the Inn Bridge on the stone boxes used to secure it at the time. It was also the Inn Bridge that brought prosperity to the city. The Counts of Andechs recognised the importance of the junction between north and south in the movement of goods and had a bridge built over the Inn. Until then, the only bridge over the Inn in this area was the remnant from antiquity at the Roman military camp Teriolis, today's Martinsbühel near Zirl.  

Crossing the river on the new bridge had its price for the merchants. At the Inn bridge, customs duties were levied on goods coming into Innsbruck. Not only did the customs duty fill the city coffers, the citizens also enjoyed the passage of the merchants, some of whom had to offer goods for sale in the city that were otherwise difficult to obtain in the Alpine region. Wine, beer, meat, salt, spices, textiles - Innsbruck stood out from the surrounding area thanks to the goods traffic over the Inn Bridge. For the merchants, the bridge was a safer, more reliable and faster way to cross the river.

In 1871, the wooden bridge, which was regularly destroyed by floods, was replaced by an 83 metre long iron truss bridge supported by just two concrete pillars. At that time, Innsbruck had lost its importance as a transhipment centre due to the railway and innovations in transport, but the increasing inner-city traffic made the renovation urgently necessary. The Inn footbridge to the east of the large bridge, which was built to finally replace the ferry journey across the Inn, which was still quite common at the time, was also built in the same year. Until then, rafts carrying goods, mainly timber from the Tyrolean Oberland, travelled along the Inn and docked in St. Nikolaus. The Waltherpark, formerly Innparkin front of the Turnusvereinshaus was built after the raft unloading site was demolished.

The Inn bridge was given its current shape in 1982. The last renovation, including widening, took place in 2023.

Ein besonderes Schmankerl Innsbrucker Kulturgeschichte befindet sich mittig auf der Innbrücke. Das Kruzifix des Thaurer Künstlers Rudi Wach, das Christus in allzu menschlicher Art und Weise nackt und ohne Wunden zeigt, sollte 1986 aufgestellt werden. Unter dem Druck einer Unterschriftenkampagne besonders frommer Tiroler musste dieses „Skandalwerk“ bis 2007 im Volkskunstmuseum ausharren, bis Innsbrucks erste Bürgermeisterin Hilde Zach es doch noch aufstellen ließ, offiziell um dem Himmlischen für die Verschonung der Stadt vor dem Hochwasser von 2005 zu danken.

Hoch über Innsbruck befindet sich die Wallfahrtskirche zur Heiligen Theresia vom Kinde Jesu. Der private Verein Mariabrunn built a chapel around a relic and an image of St Theresa in the 1920s. Theresa of Lisieux had died of tuberculosis only a few years earlier after a short but all the more pious life and had been canonised by Pius X at lightning speed. The large number of pilgrims asking St Theresa for help made it necessary to build a church.

In 1931, the association organised a competition, which was won by architect Wilhelm Stigler (1903 - 1976). He was able to prevail in the competition with his design against masters such as Clemens Holzmeister and Franz Baumann. However, as his project plan exceeded the meagre funds available for construction in the post-war period, Siegfried Thurner's design, which was somewhat more economical, was realised.

The cubic building was designed in the New Objectivity style in keeping with the spirit of the times. The Romanesque-style church with its striking tower is connected to the small Carmelite monastery via a garden. The interior of the church is particularly worth seeing. In 1935, the artist Ernst Nepo (1895 - 1971) created the fresco of St Theresa above the entrance. After the war, his involvement in the completion of the church was no longer desired, as the early National Socialist had already had a picture of the Führer made in 1937, which had been presented to him personally by the Tyrolean Nazi women's organisation for his birthday.

In his place, the Tyrolean artist Max Weiler (1910 - 2001) continued the work from 1946 onwards in order to see the nave of the church decorated in time for the 150th anniversary of the renewal of the Sacred Heart Society of 1796 in the province of Tyrol. The artist, who was still less well-known at the time, managed to complete four paintings. "Die Verehrung des Herzens Jesu“, „Die Herz-Jesu-Sonne“, „Johannesminne und Ölberg“ and „Der Lanzenstich" could be completed before it came to a scandal. The image of the Sacred Heart of Jesus was given the name "Pfaffenkarussell".

With the result, especially the portrait of the "Lance stitch", the general public was less than satisfied, as it showed the bystanders around the crucified man in traditional Tyrolean peasant dress during his last breath. It is probably no coincidence that one of the men under the cross is reminiscent of Adolf Hitler, while a Tyrolean marksman pierces the Saviour's flank with his spear. A naked Venus had to be demurely painted over with clothes in order to reduce the initial popular anger, which ultimately even led to a lawsuit by a farmer from Kössen who saw it as a disturbance of religion and order. Threats were made against the work and the artists. The Farmers' Union and parts of the Tyrolean clergy were even able to force the Vatican to intervene.

After consultation between the Holy See and the Tyrolean Bishop Paulus Rusch, a strict judgement was issued: the completion of the cycle planned by Weiler was forbidden and the sketches were never executed. The public outrage of many conservative Christians, who were able to assert themselves in conservative Tyrol in the second half of the 20th century, was too great. For ten years, the works of art, now the pride and joy of the church, remained hidden from the eyes of the general public, covered with a cloth.