One of the most famous and, for Innsbruck, most important princely couples ruled Tyrol at the very time when the Thirty Years' War was devastating Europe. When Maximilian III of Austria died childless, a replacement was needed as governor of Tyrol. The Habsburg Leopold (1586 - 1632), who was still Bishop of Passau in 1618, was chosen to take over the affairs of state. In 1625, Leopold, who had meanwhile been elevated to Duke, renounced his ecclesiastical dignities in order to marry and found a new Tyrolean line of the House of Habsburg. Claudia de Medici (1604 - 1648) from the powerful and rich princely family from Tuscany was chosen as his bride. The Medici had made a fortune in the cotton and textile trade, but above all in financial transactions, and had risen to political power. Under the Medici, Florence had become the cultural and financial centre of Europe, comparable to New York in the 20th century. Despite its status as a royal seat, Innsbruck could not compete with this, even though Leopold did everything in his power to change this. The wedding celebrations of the Habsburgs and Medici were one of the most magnificent festivities in the city's history and kept the city in suspense for a fortnight. A wide-ranging entertainment programme, including "Bears, Turks and Moors" sent Innsbruck into raptures and amazement.

The reign, which was characterised by the turmoil of the Thirty Years' War, was less splendid. Although Innsbruck was spared direct acts of war, the supply situation was nevertheless precarious. Leopold and Claudia only allowed their glamourous court behaviour to be limited by this.

After Leopold's early death, Claudia ruled the country with the help of her court chancellor Wilhelm Biener (1590 - 1651) with modern, early absolutist policies and a strict hand. Biener centralised parts of the administration and disempowered the often corrupt and arbitrary local petty nobility in favour of the prince in order to finance the expansion of the Tyrolean defence system. The Swedes, who were notorious for their brutality, threatened the Tyrolean borders, but could thus be repelled. Defence fortifications were built near Scharnitz on today's German border and named after the sovereign princess Porta Claudia called. Remains of it can still be seen today. The uncomfortable Biener was recognised by Claudia's successor, Archduke Ferdinand Karl, and the provincial estates as a Persona non grata imprisoned and beheaded in 1651 after a show trial.

A touch of Florence and Medici still characterises Innsbruck today: both the Jesuit church, where Claudia and Leopold found their final resting place, and the Mariahilf parish church still bear the coat of arms of their family with the red balls and lilies. The Old Town Hall in the old town centre is also known as Claudiana known. The theatre in Innsbruck is still associated with Leopold's name today, and a fountain on the forecourt commemorates him.

Many tyroleans see themselves as an own nation. With „Tirol isch lei oans“, „Zu Mantua in Banden“ and „Dem Land Tirol die Treue", the federal state has three more or less official anthems. There are historical reasons for this pronounced local patriotism. Tyrolean freedom and independence are often invoked as a local shrine to underpin this. It is often referred to as the first democracy in mainland Europe, which is probably a gross exaggeration when you consider the feudal and hierarchical history of the country up until well into the 19th century. However, the country cannot be denied a certain peculiarity in its development, even if it was less about the participation of broad sections of the population and more about curtailing the power of the sovereign.

After the marriage of the Bavarian Ludwig von Wittelsbach to the Tyrolean princess Margarete von Tirol-Görz, the Bavarian Wittelsbachs were rulers of Tyrol for a short time. In order to win over the Tyrolean population to his side, Ludwig decided to offer the provincial estates a treat in the 14th century. In the "Großen Freiheitsbrief" of 1342, Louis promised the Tyroleans that he would not enact any laws or tax increases without first consulting the provincial estates. This Große Freiheitsbrief was henceforth consulted by the representatives of the Tyrolean population in all negotiations with the sovereigns. However, there can be no question of a democratic constitution as understood in the 21st century, as these provincial estates were primarily the aristocratic, landowning classes, who represented their interests accordingly

As the towns and bourgeoisie slowly became more important in the 15th century, a counterweight to the nobility developed within these estates. At the Diet of 1423 under Frederick IV, 18 members of the nobility met 18 members of the towns and peasantry for the first time. Gradually, a fixed composition developed in the provincial diets of the 15th and 16th centuries. The Tyrolean bishops of Brixen and Trento, the abbots of the Tyrolean monasteries, the nobility, representatives of the towns and the peasantry were all represented. The provincial governor presided over the meeting. Of course, the resolutions and wishes of the provincial parliament were not binding for the prince, but it was probably a reassuring feeling for the ruler to know that the representatives of the population were on his side or that difficult decisions were supported. 

Another important document for the country was the Tiroler Landlibell. In 1511, Maximilian stipulated, among other things, that Tyrolean soldiers should only be called up for military service in defence of their own country. The reason for Maximilian's generosity was less his love for the Tyroleans than the need to keep the Tyrolean mines running instead of burning out the precious labourers and the peasantry that supplied them on the battlefields of Europe. This special right of the Tyroleans was one of the reasons for the 1809 uprising, when young Tyroleans were conscripted in the mobilisation of the armed forces as part of general conscription. 

The Napoleonic Wars were a milestone for the Tyrolean self-image when the Catholic crown land was threatened by the "godless French" and the revolutionary social order of 1792. Before a decisive battle against Napoleon's armies in June 1796, the Tyrolean marksmen entrusted their fate to the heart of Jesus and made a covenant with God personally that would guarantee their Heiliges Land Tirol from Napoleon. Another legend from 1796 centres on a young woman from the village of Spinges. Katharina Lanz, who was known as the Jungfrau von Spinges in die Landesgeschichte als identitätsstiftende Nationalheldin einging, soll die beinahe geschlagenen Truppen mit ihrem herrischen Auftreten in der Schlacht solcherart motiviert haben, dass sie schlussendlich den Sieg über die französische Übermacht davontragen konnten. Je nach Darstellung soll sie mit einer Mistgabel, einem Dreschflegel oder einer Sense ähnlich der französischen Jungfrau von Orleans den Truppen Napoleons das Fürchten gelehrt haben. Teile des Tiroler Selbstverständnisses rund um die Schützen und das Nationalgefühl, eine selbstständige und von Gott auserwählte Nation zu sein, die zufällig der Republik Österreich angehängt wurde, geht auf diese Legenden zurück. Nationalisten zu beiden Seiten des Brenners bedienen sich noch heute der Jungfrau von Spingesthe heart of Jesus and Andreas Hofer, to publicise their concerns. The Säcularfeier des Bundes Tirols mit dem göttlichen Herzen Jesu was still celebrated in the 20th century with great participation from the political elite.

The historical Tyrolean nationalism is based on this independent political history of the region and the aversion to everything that comes from Vienna or Brussels that persists to this day, which finds its highest expression in bon mots such as "bisch a Tiroler bisch a Mensch, bisch koana, bisch a Oasch" celebrates. The more centralisation progressed since Maria Theresa, the more Vienna was keen to minimise special rights in the historical crown lands such as Tyrol, Carinthia and Styria. The subjects' sense of belonging should not be to the province of Tyrol, but to the House of Habsburg. In the 19th century, the aim was to strengthen identification with the monarchy. The press, visits by the ruling family, monuments such as the Rudolfsbrunnen or the opening of Mount Isel with Hofer as a Tyrolean loyal to the emperor were intended to help turn the population into subjects loyal to the emperor.

When the Habsburg Empire collapsed after the First World War, the crown land of Tyrol also broke up. What had been known as South Tyrol until 1918, the Italian-speaking part of the province between Riva on Lake Garda and Salurn in the Adige Valley, became Trentino with Trento as its capital. The German-speaking part of the province between Neumarkt and the Brenner Pass is now South Tyrol / Alto Adige, an autonomous region of the Republic of Italy with the capital Bolzano. In the Tyrolean part north of the Brenner Pass, as in many former crown lands, there was an intention to break away from the newly constituted Republic of German-Austria after the lost World War. The small rump of the vanished Habsburg Empire with its oversized capital Vienna was not seen as viable by the majority of people. Throughout the centuries, Innsbruckers felt themselves to be Innsbruckers, Tyroleans, Germans, Catholics and subjects of the Emperor. Before 1945, however, hardly anyone felt Austrian. In a referendum, 99% of Tyroleans voted in favour of annexation to Germany.

It was only after the Second World War that a sense of belonging to Austria began to develop. To this day, however, many Tyroleans are proud of their local identity and like to distinguish themselves from the inhabitants of other federal states and countries. For many Tyroleans, after more than 100 years, the Brenner Pass still represents a Injustice limit even if the Europa der Regionen cooperates politically across borders at EU level. The legend of the Holy Landthe independent Tyrolean nation and first mainland democracy persists to this day. The fact that the historic crown land of Tyrol was a multi-ethnic construct with Italians, Ladins, Cimbri and Rhaeto-Romans is often overlooked in right-wing circles.

Die Werke der Familie Gumpp bestimmen bis heute sehr stark das Aussehen Innsbrucks. Vor allem die barocken Teile der Stadt sind auf die Hofbaumeister zurückzuführen. Der Begründer der Dynastie in Tirol, Christoph Gumpp (1600-1672) war eigentlich Tischler. Sein Talent allerdings hatte ihn für höhere Weihen auserkoren. Den Beruf des Architekten gab es zu dieser Zeit noch nicht. Michelangelo und Leonardo Da Vinci galten in ihrer Zeit als Handwerker, nicht als Künstler. Der Ruhm ihrer Kunstwerke allerdings hatte den Wert italienischer Baumeister innerhalb der Aristokratie immens nach oben getrieben. Wer auf sich hielt, beschäftigte jemand aus dem Süden am Hof. Christoph Gumpp, obwohl aus dem Schwabenland nach Innsbruck gekommen, trat nach seiner Mitarbeit an der Dreifaltigkeitskirche in die Fußstapfen der von Ferdinand II. hochgeschätzten Renaissance-Architekten aus Italien. Auf Geheiß Ferdinands Nachfolger Leopold V. reiste Gumpp nach Italien, um dort Theaterbauten zu studieren- Er sollte bei den kulturell den Ton angebenden Nachbarn südlich des Brenners sein Wissen für das geplante landesfürstliche Comedihaus aufzupolieren. Gumpps offizielle Tätigkeit als Hofbaumeister begann 1633 und er sollte diesen Titel an die nächsten beiden Generationen weitervererben. Über die folgenden Jahrzehnte sollte Innsbruck einer kompletten Renovierung unterzogen werden. Neue Zeiten bedurften eines neuen Designs, abseits des düsteren, von der Gotik geprägten Mittelalters. Die Gumpps traten nicht nur als Baumeister in Erscheinung. Sie waren Tischler, Maler, Kupferstecher und Architekten, was ihnen erlaubte, ähnlich der Bewegung der Tiroler Moderne rund um Franz Baumann und Clemens Holzmeister Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts, Projekte ganzheitlich umzusetzen. Johann Martin Gumpp der Ältere, Georg Anton Gumpp und Johann Martin Gumpp der Jüngere waren für viele der bis heute prägendsten Gebäude zuständig. So stammen die Wiltener Stiftskirche, die Mariahilfkirche, die Johanneskirche und die Spitalskirche von den Gumpps.  Neben Kirchen und ihrer Arbeit als Hofbaumeister machten sie sich auch als Planer von Profanbauten einen Namen. Viele der Bürgerhäuser und Stadtpaläste Innsbrucks wie das Taxispalais oder das Alte Landhaus in der Maria-Theresien-Straße wurden von Ihnen entworfen. Das Meisterstück aber war das Comedihaus, das Christoph Gumpp für Leopold V. und Claudia de Medici im ehemaligen Ballhaus plante. Die überdimensionierten Maße des damals richtungsweisenden Theaters, das in Europa zu den ersten seiner Art überhaupt gehörte, erlaubte nicht nur die Aufführung von Theaterstücken, sondern auch Wasserspiele mit echten Schiffen und aufwändige Pferdeballettaufführungen. Das Comedihaus war ein Gesamtkunstwerk an und für sich, das in seiner damaligen Bedeutung wohl mit dem Festspielhaus in Bayreuth des 19. Jahrhunderts oder der Elbphilharmonie heute verglichen werden muss. Das ehemalige Wohnhaus der Familie Gumpp kann heute noch begutachtet werden, es beherbergt heute die Konditorei Munding, eines der traditionsreichsten Cafés der Stadt.

Today, Innsbruck's city centre is characterised by buildings and monuments that commemorate the Habsburg family. For many centuries, the Habsburgs were a European ruling dynasty whose sphere of influence included a wide variety of territories. At the zenith of their power, they were the rulers of a "Reich, in dem die Sonne nie untergeht". Through wars and skilful marriage and power politics, they sat at the levers of power between South America and the Ukraine in various eras. Innsbruck was repeatedly the centre of power for this dynasty. The relationship was particularly intense between the 15th and 17th centuries. Due to its strategically favourable location between the Italian cities and German centres such as Augsburg and Regensburg, Innsbruck was given a special place in the empire at the latest after its elevation to the status of a royal seat under Emperor Maximilian. Some of the Habsburg rulers had no special relationship with Tyrol, nor did they have any particular affection for this German land. Ferdinand I (1503 - 1564) was educated at the Spanish court. Maximilian's grandson Charles V had grown up in Burgundy. When he set foot on Spanish soil for the first time at the age of 17 to take over his mother Joan's inheritance of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon, he did not speak a word of Spanish. When he was elected German Emperor in 1519, he did not speak a word of German.

Tyrol was a province and, as a conservative region, usually favoured by the ruling family. Its inaccessible location made it the perfect refuge in troubled and crisis-ridden times. Charles V (1500 - 1558) fled during a conflict with the Protestant Schmalkaldischen Bund to Innsbruck for some time. Ferdinand I (1793 - 1875) allowed his family to stay in Innsbruck, far away from the Ottoman threat in eastern Austria. Shortly before his coronation in the turbulent summer of the 1848 revolution, Franz Josef I enjoyed the seclusion of Innsbruck together with his brother Maximilian, who was later shot by insurgent nationalists as Emperor of Mexico. A plaque at the Alpengasthof Heiligwasser above Igls reminds us that the monarch spent the night here as part of his ascent of the Patscherkofel.

Not all Habsburgs were always happy to be in Innsbruck. Married princes and princesses such as Maximilian's second wife Bianca Maria Sforza or Ferdinand II's second wife Anna Caterina Gonzaga were stranded in the harsh, German-speaking mountains after their wedding without being asked. If you also imagine what a move and marriage from Italy to Tyrol to a foreign man meant for a teenager, you can imagine how difficult life was for the princesses. Until the 20th century, children of the aristocracy were primarily brought up to be politically married. There was no opposition to this. One might imagine courtly life to be ostentatious, but privacy was not provided for in all this luxury.

When Sigismund Franz von Habsburg (1630 - 1665) died childless as the last prince of the province, the title of royal seat was also history and Tyrol was ruled by a governor. Tyrolean mining had lost its importance. Shortly afterwards, the Habsburgs lost their possessions in Western Europe along with Spain and Burgundy, moving Innsbruck from the centre to the periphery of the empire. In the Austro-Hungarian monarchy of the 19th century, Innsbruck was the western outpost of a huge empire that stretched as far as today's Ukraine. Franz Josef I (1830 - 1916) ruled over a multi-ethnic empire between 1848 and 1916. However, his neo-absolutist concept of rule was out of date. Although Austria had had a parliament and a constitution since 1867, the emperor regarded this government as "his". Ministers were responsible to the emperor, who was above the government. The ailing empire collapsed in the second half of the 19th century. On 28 October 1918, the Republic of Czechoslovakia was proclaimed, and on 29 October, Croats, Slovenes and Serbs left the monarchy. The last Emperor Charles abdicated on 11 November. On 12 November, "Deutschösterreich zur demokratischen Republik, in der alle Gewalt vom Volke ausgeht“. The chapter of the Habsburgs was over.

Despite all the national, economic and democratic problems that existed in the multi-ethnic states that were subject to the Habsburgs in various compositions and forms, the subsequent nation states were sometimes much less successful in reconciling the interests of minorities and cultural differences within their territories. Since the eastward enlargement of the EU, the Habsburg monarchy has been seen by some well-meaning historians as a pre-modern predecessor of the European Union. Together with the Catholic Church, the Habsburgs shaped the public sphere through architecture, art and culture. Goldenes DachlThe Hofburg, the Triumphal Gate, Ambras Castle, the Leopold Fountain and many other buildings still remind us of the presence of the most important ruling dynasty in European history in Innsbruck.

Archduke Ferdinand II of Austria (1529 - 1595) is one of the most colourful figures in Tyrolean history. His father, Emperor Ferdinand I, gave his son an excellent education. He grew up at the Spanish court of his uncle Emperor Charles V. He spent part of his youth at the court in Innsbruck, which was also influenced by Spain at the time. The years in which Ferdinand received his schooling were the early years of Jesuit influence at the Habsburg courts. At a young age, he travelled through Italy and Burgundy and had become acquainted with a lifestyle at the wealthy courts there that had not yet established itself among the German aristocracy. Ferdinand was what today would be described as a globetrotter, a member of the educated elite or a cosmopolitan. He was considered intelligent, charming and artistic. Among his less eccentric contemporaries, Ferdinand enjoyed a reputation as an immoral and hedonistic libertine. Even during his lifetime, he was rumoured to have organised debauched and immoral orgies.

Ferdinand had taken over the province of Tyrol as sovereign in turbulent times. The mines in Schwaz began to become unprofitable due to the cheap silver from America. The flood of silver from the New World led to inflation. This did not stop him from maintaining an expensive court, while the cost of living rose for the poorer sections of the population. The Italian cities were style-defining in terms of culture, art and architecture. Ferdinand's Tyrolean court was in no way inferior to these cities. His masked balls and parades were legendary. Ferdinand had Innsbruck remodelled in the spirit of the Renaissance. In keeping with the trend of the time, he imitated the Italian aristocratic courts in Florence, Mantua, Ferrara and Milan. Court architect Giovanni Lucchese assisted him in this endeavour. Gone were the days when Germans in the more beautiful cities south of the Alps were regarded as uncivilised, barbaric or even as Pigs were labelled.

But Ambras Castle was not the end of the story. To the west of the town, an archway is a reminder of the Tiergartena hunting ground for Ferdinand, including a summer house also designed by Lucchese. In order for the prince to reach his weekend residence, a road was laid in the marshy Höttinger Au, which formed the basis for today's Kranebitter Allee. The Lusthaus was replaced in 1786 by what is now known as the Pulverturm The new building, which houses part of the sports science faculty of the University of Innsbruck, replaced the well-known building. The princely sport of hunting was followed in the former Lusthauswhich was the Powder Tower. Near the city centre, he had the princely Comedihaus on today's Rennweg.

Ferdinand's politics were also influenced by Italy. Machiavelli wrote his work "Il Principe", which stated that rulers were allowed to do whatever was necessary for their success if they were incompetent and could be deposed. Ferdinand II attempted to do justice to this early absolutist style of leadership and issued a modern set of legal rules for the time with his Tyrolean Provincial Code. The Jesuits, who had arrived in Innsbruck shortly before Ferdinand took office to make life difficult for troublesome reformers and church critics, reorganise the education system and strengthen the church's presence, were given a new church in Silbergasse. It may seem contradictory today that the pleasure-seeking Prince Ferdinand defended the church as a Catholic and counter-reformer, but this was not the case in the late Renaissance period. With his measures against the Jewish population, he was also in line with the Jesuits.

Ferdinand spent a considerable part of his life at Ambras Castle near Innsbruck, where he amassed one of the most valuable collections of works of art and armour in the world.

Ferdinand's first "semi-wild marriage" was to the commoner Philippine Welser. The sovereign is said to have been downright infatuated with his beautiful wife, which is why he disregarded all conventions of the time. Their children were excluded from the succession due to the strict social order of the 16th century. After Philippine Welser died, Ferdinand married the devout Anna Caterina Gonzaga, a 16-year-old princess of Mantua, at the age of 53. However, it seems that the two did not feel much affection for each other, especially as Anna Caterina was a niece of Ferdinand. The Habsburgs were less squeamish about marriages between relatives than they were about the marriage of a nobleman to a commoner. However, he was also "only" able to father three daughters with her. Ferdinand found his final resting place in the Silver Chapel with his first wife.