After we got off the mountain, we came home for a quick freshen up and “costume” change and then we went straight downtown. We used our Innsbruck Card to get on the bus and it was about a 10 minute trek down the hill. We basically just oriented ourselves with the city and checked out the most important spots to hit the following day.
So that’s where I’ll start. It was a day of museums and historical sites in Innsbruck. We got to take the rail car down the hill this time and it took about 5 minutes to get to the city center. It was awesome! From there we took some connecting busses to the Schloss Ambras.
Schloss Ambras
It was acquired by Archduke Ferdinand II in 1564 and is nestled among gorgeous gardens. It used to be a fortress, but was later turned into an imperial residence. There was an awesome gallery of the Hapsburgs and I saw tons of portraits of folks I knew from my travels to Spain, Scotland, and Germany!
Monastery Stift Wilten
This monastery is told to have been established by a giant and has had monks in residence since around 1100. Unfortunately, the interior was closed on Tuesdays but we were able to snap some shots through the gate.
Basilica Wilten
I love a good basilica and I’ve seen a bunch, but this one really took my breath away. I love baroque art and music, which basically means it’s all fancy and gilded gold like crazy. I seriously have no historical notes about this one but the pictures will speak for themselves. Just gorgeous!
Triumphpforte
I didn’t realize Innsbruck had an Arch! Many big cities in Europe have an Arch erected to commemorate a war or an event of significance, and apparently Maria Theresa had one erected as well! Maria Theresa is super important to Austrian culture. She was basically a dynasty in her own right and was the matriarch of the Hapsburgs in the late 16th century. The Arch she commissioned was to honor the marriage of her son, the duke of Tuscany, to Maria Ludovica from Spain. It also honored her late husband’s death, who sadly died during the wedding celebrations. You can see Saturn holding a scyth (which symbolizes death) and Maria Theresa is adjacent with a picture of her son, thus showing the continuing family lineage. The other side shows her son and his bride. Maria Theresa had 9 children! Beast mode, empress!
Hofburg
Speaking of the Empress, we also went to see the Hofburg Imperial Palace. Sadly, we could not take pictures inside (Why?!) but it was full of gorgeous portraits of the Hapsburgs and showed off beautiful furnishings fit for the dynasty. The Empress Maria Theresa commissioned a giant ballroom called the “Family Hall” due to all the giant portraits of her children. The room is now called the “Hall of the Giants.” This was a great preparation for the Schonnbrunn Palace in Vienna. We’ll be there in a few weeks!
Tyrolesevolkes Museum and Hofkirche
The museum and church are adjacent to each other and we only had about an hour to see both. The folk museum outlined Tyrolean culture dating back to 5600 BC! The Hofkirche was pretty magnificent due to the sarcophagus of Maximilian I. It was commissioned by Archduke Ferdinand I (who also did the Schloss Ambras!). The truly magnificent aspect were the 28 bronze giants outlining the sarcophagus. One of them was King Arthur, whom Maximilian was rumored to idolize. By this time in the day, Aaron was pretty tired of museums. You can see in the last picture that his struggle with jet lag continues!
After the Hofkirche, obviously Aaron was done! We opted for a quick coffee pick-me-up and then a stop for dinner at the grocery store. The rain that was promised for the past few days finally hit us so we headed home to get cozy for the night.
Tomorrow we are heading out of Innsbruck and will be exploring some areas off the beaten path. I stumbled upon some hikes on Google and Aaron is willing to explore them with me. Also, we might be going back into Germany for an hour or two. Stay tuned!
