Hungerburgbahn & Nordkettenbahn
New Hungerburgbahn: Kongresshaus valley station
Old Hungerburg railway: Rennweg 39
Worth knowing
Innsbruck ist selbsternannte Hauptstadt der Alpen. Man mag über den Titel der Hauptstadt uneins sein, Grenoble, Turin, Trient, Bern – viele andere Städte könnten ihn wohl ebenfalls für sich beanspruchen. Innsbruck nimmt aber dank seiner Einkesselung zwischen den umliegenden Bergen einen besonderen Platz in dieser Wertung ein. Der höchste Punkt der Stadt ist der Gipfel der Praxmarerkarspitze at 2642 metres above sea level.
auf 2642 Meter über Meereshöhe. Die Lage Innsbrucks zwischen dem Olympiaberg Patscherkofel im Süden und der Nordkette ist spektakulär. Vor allem ein Besuch auf der Nordkette ist für Einheimische und Touristen gleichermaßen ein besonderes Erlebnis. Innerhalb kürzester Zeit gelangt man vom Zentrum aus schon seit den 1920er Jahren in die hochalpine Welt des Karwendel ohne das Stadtgebiet zu verlassen. Gemeinsam mit Panoramagebäude und der alten Kettenbrücke bildete die Bahn auf die Hungerburg Anfang des 20. Jahrhunderts das moderne Zentrum der Stadt. Wie die beiden anderen Sehenswürdigkeiten ereilte auch sie das Schicksal allen Irdischen. Die majestätische Kettenbrücke wurde 1939 gegen eine modernere Stahlbetonbrücke ersetzt, das Panoramagebäude steht seit 2011 leer. 2005 wurde auch die Hungerburgbahn außer Betrieb genommen. 101 Jahr zuvor aber war sie als Verbindung zwischen Innsbruck und dem neu angelegten, als Nobel- und Tourismusort konzipierten Ortsteil über der Stadt, das Gesprächsthema Nummer 1 in den Innsbrucker Nachrichten:
„The Hungerburgbahn opened this morning at 7 a.m. - not exactly favoured by the best weather. Trains run every quarter of an hour until 10 o'clock in the evening. It seems that the local population is particularly interested in the new railway, which is the first cable car in North Tyrol. Yesterday, an internal evening at the Hotel Mariabrunn brought together representatives of the company, the construction management, the "Union", the municipal power station and the press for a cheerful get-together. Engineer Innerebner commemorated the creator of the railway, Mr Riehl, who is currently taking a cure in Karlovy Vary ... Works inspector Twerdy has taken over the management of the plant. Six and a half years ago, he only took over the local railway Innsbruck - Hall; since then, he has taken over four railways of all systems: the low mountain railway, the Stubai valley railway, the electric tramway and now the cable railway to the Hungerburg.“
The mountain world has always been part of the city, even before the days of tourism. The quarry was the supplier of the Höttinger Breccie, which was the basis for Innsbruck's buildings until the 20th century. Innsbruck had its own vineyards on the slopes of the Nordkette until the early 16th century, albeit with low yields.
Hungerburg, today the most expensive part of Innsbruck, was supposed to become a kind of climatic health resort. A little below in Mühlau there was already a spa that welcomed guests in need of relaxation with sufficient financial means. An artificial lake in the former quarry was intended to sweeten the guests' stay. Old photos of the Hotel Seehof zeigen eine idyllische Postkartenwelt. Die Aussichtswarte steht heute noch erhaben über Innsbruck. Das für den Kurtourismus eröffnete Hotel Mariabrunn an den Hängen der Nordkette erweckte den Charme eines noblen Schlösschens oberhalb der Stadt. Ein paar Schritte westlich der Station Hungerburg erinnert das Gasthaus zur Linde with its remarkable façade including a depiction of the Mrs Hitt still remember this time.
For a long time, the railway was the only connection between Hungerburg and Innsbruck. It was not until 1926 that the Höttinger Höhenstraße was built, starting at the Höttinger church. In 2005, the Hungerburg railway, which still has many nostalgic fans and lovers of historic means of transport and trains, was closed. Despite several appeals from the local population, the railway was closed down. The steel truss bridge over the Inn and the tamped concrete viaduct in the upper section of the railway were preserved. Pictures of the old Hungerburgbahn and Innsbruck's cable car past can be seen at the valley station of the new Hungerburgbahn on the Hungerburg.
The suspension railway to the Nordkette was opened in 1928, the same year as its southern equivalent on the Patscherkofel. Both stations are not only spectacular in terms of the view. The railway buildings are also worth seeing.
The previously unknown Franz Baumann, a representative of the architectural style of the Tiroler Moderne, gewann die Ausschreibung nach dem Ersten Weltkrieg. Knapp vor dem Eintreffen der Auswirkungen der Weltwirtschaftskrise in Tirol konnte das Projekt noch ausgeführt werden. Er wandte sich von den vorherrschenden Stilen des 19. Jahrhunderts, dem Klassizismus, dem Heimatstil und dem Historismus ab. Die Gebäude sollten sich in die Landschaft hineinschmiegen und darin aufgehen, anstatt zu stören. Baumann designte sowohl die Gebäude selbst wie auch die Einrichtung, ganz im Stil des Bauhaus, der ab 1919 von Weimar aus moderne europäische Architektur ergriffen hatte. Das Handwerk sollte nicht über der Kunst stehen, sondern beide Bereiche sollten sich ergänzen. Sowohl die Bergbahn als auch die Gastronomie wurden funktional berücksichtigt. Beim Umbau 2007 wurden so weit als möglich sowohl das Interieur mit den wuchtigen Holzmöbeln wie auch das Äußere der Mittel- und Bergstation erhalten.
In den 1930er Jahren wurde auf der Nordkette Wissenschaftsgeschichte geschrieben. Victor Franz Hess veranlasste 1931 die Einrichtung eines Labors in einer aufgelassenen Baubaracke auf dem Hafele Kar in 2300 m Seehöhe, um dort ein Labor für Ultrastrahlenforschung zum Studium der kosmischen Strahlung zu betreiben. 1936 erhielt er dafür den Nobelpreis für Physik.
Today, you can board the Nordkettenbahn at the Kongresshaus in the centre of the city and reach the Hafele Kar at an altitude of 2256 m in no time at all. The stations of the new railway up to the Hungerburg were designed by star architect Zaha Hadid in a breathtakingly futuristic design. Even if you don't want to take the walk up to Weiherburg Castle on foot, you can travel in comfort from the Congress Centre to the Alpine Zoo.
The Alpenzoo with Weiherburg has its own stop on the Hungerburg cable car. From the Hungerburg, the route leads via the Seegrube up to the summit with its summit cross. The view of the city, the Wipptal valley and mountains such as Nockspitze und Serles or down into the Karwendel towards the north are breathtaking.
On the western side of the Nordkette (note: on the left as seen from the town) rises a striking mountain peak. With a little imagination, this rock formation resembles a woman on a horse. With the legend surrounding this Mrs HittInnsbruck's children have been growing up for generations with a moral warning against arrogance and wastefulness.
„In ancient times, when the race of giants still lived on earth, a proud, mighty giant queen, Mrs Hitt, whose arrogance and hard-heartedness was feared by all her subjects, lived high in the mountains above the Inn, where Innsbruck was built in the valley below. Glorious forests, lush pastures and rolling fields filled the realm she ruled. Precious ores and precious stones lay open in the mountains, and her wealth was boundless. A crystalline castle, which shone far down into the valley, offered her a truly royal abode with its countless splendid rooms. The castle was surrounded by marvellous gardens in which the most beautiful roses ever seen bloomed. Mrs Hitt had a son of her own, whom she loved and spoilt beyond all measure. The young giant boy liked to romp around near the palace and caused her worried mother a lot of grief with his curiosity and mischievousness, although it was mostly harmless things she was worried about. Once it happened that the giant boy wanted to ride a hobby horse. For this purpose, he broke off a young fir tree that was growing at the edge of a mossy swamp. But as he struggled with the fir tree, the ground gave way and the giant boy and his fir tree fell into the black boggy mud. Although he managed to work his way out of the involuntary bog bath with the help of his innate strength, his hands, feet and clothes were covered all over with the foul-smelling mud and his face was also splattered with dirt. Howling, the boy ran to his mother in the castle, leaving a black trail of his misfortune behind him at every step. Mrs Hitt soothed the child with loving words and promised him new, beautiful toys to comfort him for the fear he had endured. Then she ordered her servants to undress the boy and give him a clean bath. So that not a trace of the mud would remain on him, they were to wash and rub his whole body with milk and softened white bread and then sprinkle him with fragrant essences. But the servants had hardly begun to abuse the divine gift of milk and bread for their dirty work when suddenly the sky darkened and a heavy thunderstorm moved in with furious speed. A tremendous earthquake shook the mountains, and with a thunderous crash the crystal palace of Mrs Hitt collapsed into a shapeless heap of rubble. And then, as if hurled down from heaven, huge mudslides and avalanches of stone came hurtling down the mountain slopes, sweeping away the forests, devouring the green pastures and flowering gardens and turning the marvellous meadows into a terrifying stony desert from which not a blade of grass could sprout. Mrs Hitt's kingdom was destroyed, but she herself was frozen into a gruesome rocky figure holding her petrified son in her arms. And so she must remain for the eternal memory of her iniquity until the end of time."
Quoted from: The most beautiful legends from Austria / sagen.at
Tourism: From Alpine summer retreat to Piefke Saga
In the 1990s, an Austrian television series caused a scandal. The Piefke Saga written by the Tyrolean author Felix Mitterer, describes the relationship between the German holidaymaker family Sattmann and their hosts in a fictitious Tyrolean holiday resort in four bizarrely amusing episodes. Despite all the scepticism about tourism in its current, sometimes extreme, excesses, it should not be forgotten that tourism was an important factor in Innsbruck and the surrounding area in the 19th century, driving the region's development in the long term, and not just economically.
Initially, it was the mountain peaks of the Alps that attracted visitors. For a long time, the area between Mittenwald in Bavaria and Italy was only a kind of transit corridor. Although Innsbruck's inns and innkeepers were already earning money from merchants and the entourage of the court's aristocratic guests in the Middle Ages and early modern times, there was still no question of tourism as we understand it today. In addition to a growing middle class, this also required a new attitude towards the Alps. For a long time, the mountains had been a pure threat to the people. It was mainly the British who set out to conquer the world's mountains after the oceans. From the late 18th century, the era of Romanticism, news of the natural beauty of the Alps spread through travelogues.
In addition to the alpine attraction, it was the wild and exotic Natives Tirols, die international für Aufsehen sorgten. Der bärtige Revoluzzer namens Andreas Hofer, der es mit seinem Bauernheer geschafft hatte, Napoleons Armee in die Knie zu zwingen, erzeugte bei den Briten, den notorischen Erzfeinden der Franzosen, ebenso großes Interesse wie bei deutschen Nationalisten nördlich der Alpen, die in ihm einen frühen Protodeutschen sahen. Die Tiroler galten als unbeugsamer Menschenschlag, archetypisch und ungezähmt, ähnlich den Germanen unter Arminius, die das Imperium Romanum herausgefordert hatten. Die Beschreibungen Innsbrucks aus der Feder des Autors Beda Weber (1798 – 1858) und andere Reiseberichte in der boomenden Presselandschaft dieser Zeit trugen dazu bei, ein attraktives Bild Innsbrucks zu prägen.
Nun mussten die wilden Alpen nur noch der Masse an Touristen zugänglich gemacht werden, die zwar gerne den frühen Abenteurern auf ihren Expeditionen nacheifern wollten, deren Risikobereitschaft und Fitness mit den Wünschen nicht schritthalten konnten. Der German Alpine Club eröffnete 1869 eine Sektion Innsbruck, nachdem der 1862 Österreichische Alpenverein wenig erfolgreich war. Angetrieben vom großdeutschen Gedanken vieler Mitglieder fusionierten die beiden Institutionen 1873. Der Alpenverein ist bis heute bürgerlich geprägt, sein sozialdemokratisches Pendant sind die Naturfreunde. The network of trails grew through its development, as did the number of huts that could accommodate guests. The Tyrolean theologian Franz Senn (1831 - 1884) and the writer Adolf Pichler (1819 - 1900) were instrumental in surveying Tyrol and creating maps. Contrary to popular belief, the Tyroleans were not born mountaineers, but had to be taught the skills to conquer the mountains. Until then, mountains had been one thing above all: dangerous and arduous in everyday agricultural life. Climbing them had hardly occurred to anyone before. The Alpine clubs also trained mountain guides.
From the turn of the century, skiing came into fashion alongside hiking and mountaineering. There were no lifts yet, and to get up the mountains you had to use the skins that are still glued to touring skis today.
The number of guests increased slowly but surely. In addition to the number of travellers who had an impact on life in the small town of Innsbruck, it was also the internationality of the visitors who gradually gave Innsbruck a new look. New hotels, cafés, inns, shops and means of transport were needed to meet the needs of the guests. The working world of many people changed. In June 1896, the Innsbrucker Nachrichten:
„Der Fremdenverkehr in Innsbruck bezifferte sich im Monat Mai auf 5647 Personen. Darunter befanden sich (außer 2763 Reisenden aus Oesterreich-Ungarn) 1974 Reichsdeutsche, 282 Engländer, 65 Italiener, 68 Franzosen, 53 Amerikaner, 51 Russen und 388 Personen aus verschiedenen anderen Ländern.“
Mit dem Grand Hotel Europa hatte 1869 auch in Innsbruck ein Haus ersten Ranges geöffnet und löste die oft in die Jahre gekommenen Gasthöfe in der Altstadt als die Unterkünfte erster Wahl ab. 1892 folgte mit dem Reformhotel Habsburger Hof ein zweiter großer Betrieb, der mit der Nähe zum Bahnhof warb. Was heute eher als Wettbewerbsnachteil angesehen würde, war zu dieser Zeit ein Verkaufsargument. Bahnhöfe waren die Zentren moderner Städte. Die Bahnhofsplätze waren keine überfüllten Verkehrsknotenpunkte wie heute, sondern mondäne und gepflegte Orte vor den architektonisch anspruchsvoll gestalteten Hallen, in denen die Züge ankamen. Der Habsburg Court konnte seinen Gästen auch bereits elektrisches Licht bieten, eine absolute Sensation.
Innsbruck and the surrounding villages were also known for spa holidays, the predecessor of today's wellness, where wealthy clients recovered from various illnesses in an Alpine environment. The Igler Hof, at that time Grandhotel Igler Hof and the Sporthotel Igls, still partly exude the chic of that time. Michael Obexer, the founder of the spa town of Igls and owner of the Grand Hotel, was a tourism pioneer. There were two spas in Egerdach near Amras and in Mühlau. The facilities were not as well-known as the hotspots of the time in Bad Ischl, Marienbad or Baden near Vienna, as can be seen in old photos and postcards, but the treatments with brine, steam, gymnastics and even magnetism were in line with the standards of the time, some of which are still popular with spa and wellness holidaymakers today. Bad Egerdach near Innsbruck had been known as a healing spring since the 17th century. The spring was said to cure gout, skin diseases, anaemia and even the nervous disorder known in the 19th century as neurasthenia, the predecessor of burnout. The institution's chapel still exists today opposite the SOS Children's Village. The baths in Mühlau have existed since 1768 and were converted into an inn and spa in the style of the time in the course of the 19th century. The former bathing establishment is now a residential building worth seeing in Anton-Rauch-Straße.
1888 gründeten die Profiteure des Fremdenverkehrs in Innsbruck die Commission for the promotion of tourism, den Vorgänger des heutigen Tourismusverbands. Durch vereinte Kräfte in Werbung und Qualitätssicherung bei den Beherbergungsbetrieben hofften die einzelnen Betriebe, den Tourismus weiter anzukurbeln. Ab 1880 sorgten neben Werbung in Zeitungen auch Messen dafür, dass Innsbruck und Tirol international Bekanntheit erlangten.
„Alljährlich mehrt sich die Zahl der überseeischen Pilger, die unser Land und dessen gletscherbekrönte Berge zum Verdrusse unserer freundnachbarlichen Schweizer besuchen und manch klingenden Dollar zurücklassen. Die Engländer fangen an Tirol ebenso interessant zu finden wie die Schweiz, die Zahl der Franzosen und Niederländer, die den Sommer bei uns zubringen, mehrt sich von Jahr zu Jahr.“
Postkarten waren die ersten massentauglichen Influencer der Tourismusgeschichte. Viele Betriebe ließen ihre eigenen Postkarten drucken. Verlage produzierten unzählige Sujets der beliebtesten Sehenswürdigkeiten der Stadt. Es ist interessant zu sehen, was damals als sehenswert galt und auf den Karten abgebildet wurde. Anders als heute waren es vor allem die zeitgenössisch modernen Errungenschaften der Stadt: der Leopoldbrunnen, das Stadtcafé beim Theater, die Kettenbrücke, die Zahnradbahn auf die Hungerburg oder die 1845 eröffnete Stefansbrücke an der Brennerstraße, die als Steinbogen aus Quadern die Sill überquerte, waren die Attraktionen. Auch Andreas Hofer war ein gut funktionierendes Testimonial auf den Postkarten: Der Gasthof Schupfen in dem Andreas Hofer sein Hauptquartier hatte und der Berg Isel mit dem großen Andreas-Hofer-Denkmal waren gerne abgebildete Motive.
1914 gab es in Innsbruck 17 Hotels, die Gäste anlockten. Dazu kamen die Sommer- und Winterfrischler in Igls und dem Stubaital. Der Erste Weltkrieg ließ die erste touristische Welle mit einem Streich versanden. Gerade als sich der Fremdenverkehr Ende der 1920er Jahre langsam wieder erholt hatte, kamen mit der Wirtschaftskrise und Hitlers 1000 Mark blockThe next setback came in 1933, when he tried to put pressure on the Austrian government to end the ban on the NSDAP.
It required the Economic miracle in the 1950s and 1960s to revitalise tourism in Innsbruck after the destruction. After the arduous war years and the reconstruction of the European economy, Tyrol and Innsbruck were able to slowly but steadily establish tourism as a stable source of income. Tourism not only brought in foreign currency, but also enabled the locals to create a new image of themselves both internally and externally. The war enemies of past decades became guests and hosts.
Sporty Innsbruck
Wer den Beweis benötigt, dass die Innsbrucker stets ein aktives Völkchen waren, könnte das Bild „Winterlandschaft“ des niederländischen Malers Pieter Bruegel (circa 1525 – 1569) aus dem 16. Jahrhundert bemühen. Auf seiner Rückreise von Italien gen Norden hielt der Meister wohl auch in Innsbruck und beobachtete dabei die Bevölkerung beim Eislaufen auf dem zugefrorenen Amraser See. Beda Weber beschrieb in seinem Handbuch für Reisende in Tirol 1851 the leisure habits of the people of Innsbruck, including ice skating on Lake Amras. "The lake not far away (note: Amras), a pool in the mossy area, is used by ice skaters in winter.“
In the Middle Ages and early modern times, leisure and free time for sports such as hunting or riding was primarily a privilege of the nobility. It was not until the changed living conditions of the 19th century that a large proportion of the population, especially in the cities, had something like leisure time for the first time. More and more people no longer worked in agriculture, but as labourers and employees in offices, workshops and factories according to regulated schedules.
The pioneer was the early industrialised England, where workers and employees slowly began to free themselves from the turbo capitalism of early industrialisation. 16-hour days were not only detrimental to workers' health, entrepreneurs also realised that overworking was unprofitable. Healthy and happy workers were better for productivity. Efforts to introduce an 8-hour day had been underway since the 1860s. In 1873, the Austrian book printers pushed through a working day of ten hours. In 1918, Austria switched to a 48-hour week. From 1930, 40 hours per week became the standard working time in industrial companies. People of all classes, no longer just the aristocracy, now had time and energy for hobbies, club life and sporting activities.
In many cases, it was also English tourists who brought sporting trends, disciplines and equipment with them. The financial outlay for the required equipment determined whether the discipline remained the preserve of the middle classes or whether workers could also afford the pleasure. For example, luge was already widespread around the turn of the century, while bobsleigh and skeleton remained elitist sports.
The beginning of organised club sport was made by the ITV, which Innsbrucker Turnvereinwhich was founded in 1849. Gymnastics was the epitome of sport in German-speaking countries. The idea of competition was not in the foreground. Most clubs had a political background. There were Christian, socialist and Greater German sports clubs. They served as a preliminary organisation for political parties and bodies. More or less all clubs had Aryan clauses in their statutes. Jews therefore founded their own sports clubs. The national movement emerged from the German gymnastics clubs, similar to the student fraternities. The members were supposed to train themselves physically in order to fulfil the national body to serve in the best possible way in the event of war. Sedentary occupations, especially academic ones, became more common, and gymnastics served as a means of compensation. If you see the gymnasts performing their exercises and demonstrations in old pictures, the strictly military character of these events is striking. The Greater German agitator Friedrich Ludwig Jahn (1778 - 1852), commonly known as Gymnastics father Jahnwas not only the nation's gymnast, but also the spiritual father of the Lützow Free Corps which went into action against Napoleon as a kind of all-German volunteer army. One of the most famous bon mots attributed to this passionate anti-Semite is "Hatred of everything foreign is a German's duty". In Saggen, Jahnstraße and a small park with a monument commemorate Friedrich Ludwig Jahn.
1883 gründeten die Radfahrer den Verein Bicycle Club. The first bicycle races in France and Great Britain took place in 1869. The English city of Coventry was also a pioneer in the production of the elegant steel steeds, which cost a fortune. In the same year, the Innsbruck press had already reported on the modern means of individual transport when "some gentlemen ventured onto the road with several velocipedes ordered by the Peterlongo company". In 1876, cycling was briefly banned in Innsbruck as accidents had repeatedly occurred. Cycling was also quickly recognised by the state as a form of exercise that could be used for military purposes. A Reich war ministerial decree on this can be found in the press:
„Es ist beabsichtigt, wie in den Vorjahren, auch heuer bei den Uebungen mit vereinigten Waffen Radfahrer zu verwenden… Die Commanden der Infanterie- und Tiroler Jägerregimenter sowie der Feldjäger-Bataillone haben jene Personen, welche als Radfahrer in Evidenz stehen und heuer zur Waffenübung verpflichtet sind, zum Einrücken mit ihrem Fahrrade aufzufordern.“
The Velocipedists siedelten sich 1896 im Rahmen der „Internationalen Ausstellung für körperliche Erziehung, Gesundheitspflege und Sport“ im Saggen nahe der Viaduktbögen mit einer Radrennbahn samt Tribüne an. Neben Radrennen fanden hier bis zum Abriss der Anlage Boxkämpfe und Tennismatches statt. Die Innsbrucker Nachrichten berichteten begeistert von dieser Neuerung, war doch der Radsport bis zu den ersten Autorennen europaweit die beliebteste Sportdisziplin:
„Die Innsbrucker Rennbahn, welche in Verbindung mit der internationalen Ausstellung noch im Laufe der nächsten Wochen eröffnet wird, erhält einen Umfang von 400 Metern bei einer Breite von 6 Metern… Die Velociped-Rennbahn, um deren Errichtung sich der Präsident des Tiroler Radfahrer-Verbandes Herr Staatsbahn-Oberingenieur R. v. Weinong, das Hauptverdienst erworben hat, wird eine der hervorragendsten und besteingerichteten Radfahrbahnen des Continents sein. Am. 29. d. M. (Anm.: Juni 1896) wird auf der Innsbrucker Rennbahn zum erstenmale ein großes internationales Radwettfahren abgehalten, welchem dann in der Zukunft alljährlich regelmäßig Velociped-Preisrennen folgen sollen, was der Förderung des Radfahr-Sports wie auch des Fremdenverkehrs in Innsbruck sicher in bedeutendem Maße nützlich sein wird.“
The footballers had left the umbrella organisation ITV because of the Aryan Law, which forbade matches with teams with Jewish players. In 1903, the Verein Fußball Innsbruckwhich would later become the SVI. At this time, there were already national football matches, for example a 1:1 draw between the ITV team and Bayern Munich. The matches were played on a football pitch in front of the Sieberer orphanage. In Wilten, now part of Innsbruck, in 1910 the SK Wilten. 1913 gründete sich mit Wacker Innsbruck the most successful Tyrolean football club to date, which has won the Austrian championship ten times under different names and has also repeatedly caused a furore internationally.
The second half of the 1920s was a time of emancipation and new beginnings after the horrors of the First World War and the crisis years, which were characterised by inflation and supply shortages. In 1925, the town built a sports centre at the Sillhöfe to meet the growing demand. As early as the 19th century, this area between Wilten, Pradl and Amras at the foot of Mount Isel was a popular excursion destination for Innsbruck residents. The first facility consisted of two football pitches and a cinder track for athletics. The sports fields fell victim to bombing during the Second World War. In the post-war period, the area was used by Innsbruck residents as allotment gardens.
In 1953, the old Tivoli football stadium was opened, where the FC Wacker Innsbruck under various club names until the move to the new home behind the Olympic Stadium in 2000, the club was able to celebrate eight of a total of ten Austrian championship titles.
The first bathing establishment welcomed swimmers from 1833 in the Höttinger in the outdoor pool on the Gießen. Further baths at Büchsenhausen Castle or the separate women's and men's baths next to today's Sillpark area soon followed. The outdoor swimming pool was in a particularly beautiful location Beautiful rest above Ambras Castle, which opened in 1929 shortly after the indoor swimming pool in Pradl was built. The population had grown just as much as the desire for swimming as a leisure activity. In 1961, the sports programme at Tivoli was expanded to include the Freischwimmbad Tivoli erweitert. Abgesehen von einigen Erneuerungen und der Umstrukturierung auf Grund der Wohnanlage Tivoli besteht das Schwimmbad im Kern seit über 60 Jahren nach den Plänen dieser Zeit und gilt als internationales Vorbild für die Gestaltung einer städtischen Freizeitanlage.
In addition to the various summer sports, winter sports also became increasingly popular. Tobogganing was already a popular leisure activity on the hills around Innsbruck in the middle of the 19th century. The first ice rink opened in 1870 as a winter alternative to swimming on the grounds of the open-air swimming pool in the Höttinger Au. Unlike water sports, ice skating was a pleasure that could be enjoyed by men and women together. Instead of meeting up for a Sunday stroll, young couples could meet at the ice rink without their parents present. The ice skating club was founded in 1884 and used the exhibition grounds as an ice rink. With the ice rink in front of the k.u.k. shooting range in Mariahilf, the Lansersee, the Amraser See, the Höttinger Au swimming facility and the Sillkanal in Kohlstatt provided the people of Innsbruck with many opportunities for ice skating. The first ice hockey club, the IEV, was founded as early as 1908.
Skiing, initially a Nordic pastime in the valley, soon spread as a downhill discipline. The Innsbruck Academic Alpine Club was founded in 1893 and two years later organised the first ski race on Tyrolean soil from Sistrans to Ambras Castle. Founded in 1867, the Sports shop Witting in Maria-Theresien-Straße proved its business acumen and was still selling equipment for the well-heeled skiing public before 1900. After St. Anton and Kitzbühel, the first ski centre was founded in 1906. Innsbruck Ski Club. The equipment was simple and for a long time only allowed skiing on relatively flat slopes with a mixture of alpine and Nordic style similar to cross-country skiing. Nevertheless, people dared to whizz down the slopes in Mutters or on the Ferrariwiese. In 1928, two cable cars were installed on the Nordkette and the Patscherkofel, which made skiing significantly more attractive. Skiing achieved its breakthrough as a national sport with the World Ski Championships in Innsbruck in February 1933. On an unmarked course, 10 kilometres and 1500 metres of altitude had to be covered between the Glungezer and Tulfes. The two local heroes Gustav Lantschner and Inge Wersin-Lantschner won several medals in the races, fuelling the hype surrounding alpine winter sports in Innsbruck.
Innsbruck identifiziert sich bis heute sehr stark mit dem Sport. Mit der Fußball-EM 2008, der Radsport-WM 2018 und der Kletter-WM 2018 konnte man an die glorreichen 1930er Jahre mit zwei Skiweltmeisterschaften und die beiden Olympiaden von 1964 und 1976 auch im Spitzensportbereich wieder an die Goldenen Zeiten anknüpfen. Trotzdem ist es weniger der Spitzen- als vielmehr der Breitensport, der dazu beiträgt, aus Innsbruck die selbsternannte Sporthauptstadt Österreichs zu machen. Es gibt kaum einen Innsbrucker, der nicht zumindest den Alpinski anschnallt. Mountainbiken auf den zahlreichen Almen rund um Innsbruck, Skibergsteigen, Sportklettern und Wandern sind überdurchschnittlich populär in der Bevölkerung und fest im Alltag verankert.
Wilhelm Greil: DER Bürgermeister Innsbrucks
One of the most important figures in the town's history was Wilhelm Greil (1850 - 1923). From 1896 to 1923, the businessman held the office of mayor, having previously helped to shape the city's fortunes as deputy mayor. Due to an electoral system based on the right to vote via property classes, large mass parties such as the Social Democrats were not yet able to assert themselves. The second half of the 19th century was characterised by the struggle between liberal and conservative forces in Innsbruck city politics. In contrast to the rest of Tyrol, the conservatives had a hard time in Innsbruck, whose population had been in favour of liberal ideas since the Napoleonic era.
Greil belonged to the "Deutschen Volkspartei", a liberal and national-Great German party. What appears to us today as a contradiction, liberal and national, was a politically common and well-functioning pair of ideas in the 19th century. Pan-Germanism was not a political peculiarity of a radical right-wing minority, but rather a centrist trend, particularly in German-speaking cities of the Reich, which was important in varying forms through almost all parties until after the Second World War. Whoever issues the liberal Innsbrucker Nachrichten of the period around the turn of the century, you will find countless articles in which the common ground between the German Reich and the German-speaking countries was made the topic of the day.
Greil was a skilful politician who operated within the predetermined power structures of his time. He knew how to skilfully manoeuvre around the traditional powers, the monarchy and the clergy, and how to come to terms with them. Under him, the city purchased land with foresight in the spirit of the merchant in order to make projects possible. Under Wilhelm Greil, Innsbruck expanded considerably. The politician Greil was able to rely on the civil servants and town planners Eduard Klingler, Jakob Albert and Theodor Prachensky for the major building projects of the time. In addition to the villas in Saggen, residential buildings were also built in the eastern part of the neighbourhood. Infrastructure projects such as the new town hall in Maria-Theresienstraße in 1897, the Hungerburg railway in 1906 and the Karwendelbahn were realised. Other projects included the renovation of the market square and the construction of the market hall.
Much of what was pioneered in the second half of the 19th century is part of everyday life today. For the people of that time, however, these things were a real sensation and life-changing. The four decades between the economic crisis of 1873 and the First World War were characterised by unprecedented economic growth and rapid modernisation. The city's economy boomed. Businesses were established in Pradl and Wilten, attracting workers. Tourism also brought fresh capital into the city.
His predecessor, Mayor Heinrich Falk (1840 - 1917), had already contributed significantly to the modernisation of the town and the settlement of Saggen. Since 1859, the lighting of the city with gas pipelines had progressed steadily. Between 1887 and 1891, Innsbruck was equipped with a modern high-pressure water pipeline, which could also be used to supply flats on higher floors with fresh water. Wilhelm Greil arranged for the gas works in Pradl and the electricity works in Mühlau to be taken over into municipal ownership. The street lighting was converted to electric light.
Greil was able to secure Innsbrucker Renaissance on patrons from the town's middle classes. Baron Johann von Sieberer donated the old people's asylum and the orphanage in Saggen. Leonhard Lang donated the building, previously used as a hotel, to which the town hall moved from the old town in 1897, in return for the town's promise to build a home for apprentices.
In his last years in office, Greil accompanied Innsbruck through the transition from the Habsburg Monarchy to the Republic, a period characterised above all by hunger, misery, scarcity of resources and insecurity. He was 68 years old when Italian troops occupied the city after the First World War and Tyrol was divided at the Brenner Pass, which was particularly bitter for him as a representative of German nationalism.
In 1928, former mayor Greil died as an honorary citizen of the city of Innsbruck at the age of 78. Wilhelm-Greil-Straße was named after him during his lifetime.