Old Schoolhouse
Domplatz 5
Worth knowing
In the shadow of St Jakob's Cathedral is the building that housed Innsbruck's first city school. The educational establishment probably began its service as early as the 13th century, when Innsbruck was slowly transformed from a settlement into an official town. At that time, however, only clerics were trained in reading, writing and Latin for the mass service and the copying of scripts.
There was still no question of a primary school. The first mention of a school of this type can be found in the town chronicles in the 15th century. It remained in operation here until the Theresian school reform of 1768. With the transformation of Innsbruck from a village to a town, new occupational groups were added and with them new demands on education. Increasingly, tradesmen also had to have at least a basic knowledge of reading, writing and arithmetic in order to carry out commercial activities.
It is no coincidence that the school was located near the church in the 14th century. The Schoolmaster or Scolasticus was appointed by the city council of Innsbruck, but the church was responsible for the education of the pupils. Unsurprisingly, a strict regiment prevailed at the school. In the 16th century, the scolasticus was admonished to "...of fists, hair pulling and head banging" to do without.
Of course, not every child attended a medieval school. It was mainly the children of the bourgeoisie and the upper echelons of the craft guilds who had to learn reading, writing, religion and sometimes Latin and arithmetic for their profession. The aristocracy were usually taught by private tutors in their own chambers, which contributed to the diversification of the classes from a very young age.
The costs of the town school were borne by citizens who could afford to pay school fees for their offspring. Gifted children from less well-off backgrounds or even orphans, the so-called Pauperes (note: pauper: Latin for poor), often lived in the school building and had to perform church service in return for their lessons. The living expenses of these pupils were also partly covered by wealthy townspeople, but the young men had to pray for the salvation of their patrons. When times were bad, these Pauperes begging for their food. The pupils also contributed to the running of the school by cleaning the classrooms and collecting things like firewood.
In addition to catechism, reading, writing and arithmetic, the pupils were also trained in choral singing. During the cold winter months in particular, the schoolmaster took the singers to wealthy citizens and noblemen to ask them for alms. This developed into the Carolingwhich is still an established custom around Epiphany today.
The parish church and the town benefited equally from this combination of education and church. The quality of the church service and pastoral care were not the sole interest of the church at that time, but a matter for the city council. Innsbruck wanted to grow and attract skilled craftsmen and traders. Religion played an important role in people's lives and therefore in their choice of where to live.
Until the 18th century, it was almost exclusively boys who benefited from school education. A separate school for girls was established in the 17th century. In 1689, the Ursuline nuns, who were responsible for teaching girls, settled behind today's hospital church. Count Hieronymus Ferrari d'Occhieppo donated 30,000 guilders to bring nuns from Freising in Bavaria to Innsbruck.
German schoolsthe so-called Normal schoolsThe first city school gradually became a competitor during the Reformation. With the Jesuit grammar school, the Latin school, which was established in Innsbruck in the 16th century, the city school became less important.
Today, the old town school serves as the bishop's residence.
Believe, Church and Power
The abundance of churches, chapels, crucifixes and murals in public spaces has a peculiar effect on many visitors to Innsbruck from other countries. Not only places of worship, but also many private homes are decorated with depictions of the Holy Family or biblical scenes. The Christian faith and its institutions have characterised everyday life throughout Europe for centuries. Innsbruck, as the residence city of the strictly Catholic Habsburgs and capital of the self-proclaimed Holy Land of Tyrol, was particularly favoured when it came to the decoration of ecclesiastical buildings. The dimensions of the churches alone are gigantic by the standards of the past. In the 16th century, the town with its population of just under 5,000 had several churches that outshone every other building in terms of splendour and size, including the palaces of the aristocracy. Wilten Monastery was a huge complex in the centre of a small farming village that was grouped around it. The spatial dimensions of the places of worship reflect their importance in the political and social structure.
For many Innsbruck residents, the church was not only a moral authority, but also a secular landlord. The Bishop of Brixen was formally on an equal footing with the sovereign. The peasants worked on the bishop's estates in the same way as they worked for a secular prince on his estates. This gave them tax and legal sovereignty over many people. The ecclesiastical landowners were not regarded as less strict, but even as particularly demanding towards their subjects. At the same time, it was also the clergy in Innsbruck who were largely responsible for social welfare, nursing, care for the poor and orphans, feeding and education. The influence of the church extended into the material world in much the same way as the state does today with its tax office, police, education system and labour office. What democracy, parliament and the market economy are to us today, the Bible and pastors were to the people of past centuries: a reality that maintained order. To believe that all churchmen were cynical men of power who exploited their uneducated subjects is not correct. The majority of both the clergy and the nobility were pious and godly, albeit in a way that is difficult to understand from today's perspective.
Unlike today, religion was by no means a private matter. Violations of religion and morals were tried in secular courts and severely penalised. The charge for misconduct was heresy, which encompassed a wide range of offences. Sodomy, i.e. any sexual act that did not serve procreation, sorcery, witchcraft, blasphemy - in short, any deviation from the right belief in God - could be punished with burning. Burning was intended to purify the condemned and destroy them and their sinful behaviour once and for all in order to eradicate evil from the community.
For a long time, the church regulated the everyday social fabric of people down to the smallest details of daily life. Church bells determined people's schedules. Their sound called people to work, to church services or signalled the death of a member of the congregation. People were able to distinguish between individual bell sounds and their meaning. Sundays and public holidays structured the time. Fasting days regulated the diet. Family life, sexuality and individual behaviour had to be guided by the morals laid down by the church. The salvation of the soul in the next life was more important to many people than happiness on earth, as this was in any case predetermined by the events of time and divine will. Purgatory, the last judgement and the torments of hell were a reality and also frightened and disciplined adults.
While Innsbruck's bourgeoisie had been at least gently kissed awake by the ideas of the Enlightenment after the Napoleonic Wars, the majority of people in the surrounding communities remained attached to the mixture of conservative Catholicism and superstitious popular piety.
Faith and the church still have a firm place in the everyday lives of Innsbruck residents, albeit often unnoticed. The resignations from the church in recent decades have put a dent in the official number of members and leisure events are better attended than Sunday masses. However, the Roman Catholic Church still has a lot of ground in and around Innsbruck, even outside the walls of the respective monasteries and educational centres. A number of schools in and around Innsbruck are also under the influence of conservative forces and the church. And anyone who always enjoys a public holiday, pecks one Easter egg after another or lights a candle on the Christmas tree does not have to be a Christian to act in the name of Jesus disguised as tradition.