Innsbruck
Capital of Tirol state, west Austria, on the Inn River; population (2003 est) 115,600. It is a summer and winter tourist centre, and a route junction for the Brenner Pass. Local industries include mechanical engineering, metal products, textiles, processed food, beer, bellmaking, and bookbinding. The 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics were held here.
History
Strategically located in the Eastern Alps, Innsbruck grew to early prominence as a transalpine trading post, was established as a fortified town by 1180, and supplanted Merano as the capital of Tyrol in 1420. In 1809 Innsbruck was the headquarters of Andreas Höfer, the Austrian hero who led an unsuccessful Tyrolean peasants' revolt against Napoleon Bonaparte's Confederation of the Rhine.
Features It has an 18th-century imperial palace, the Hofburg; and a 16th-century Renaissance-style church, the Hofkirche. The Column of St Anne (1706) is a landmark in the city's main thoroughfare, Maria Theresienstrasse. Innsbruck has several museums, notably the Ferdinandeum, a botanical garden, several monasteries, and a university (founded in 1677). |
