Türing dynasty of master builders: Innsbruck becomes a cosmopolitan city

Hofburg Innsbruck
Türing dynasty of master builders: Innsbruck becomes a cosmopolitan city

Siegmund der Münzreiche was the one who brought Niklas Türing (1427 - 1496) to Innsbruck in the 15th century. The Türings were a family of stonemasons and master builders from what is now Swabia, which at the time was part of the Habsburg Monarchy as part of Vorderösterreich. Innsbruck had been the royal seat of the Tyrolean princes for several decades, but the architectural splendour had not yet arrived north of the Alps. The city was a collection of wooden houses and not very prestigious. For craftsmen and master builders, golden times were dawning, which were to gather even more momentum under Maximilian. There was a real building boom. Aristocrats wanted to have a residence in the city in order to be as close as possible to the centre of power. In the days before the press, a functioning postal system, fax and e-mail, politics was mainly played out through direct contact.

In the course of the late Middle Ages, the early Gothic period and later the Renaissance gave Europe a new architectural guise with a new understanding of architecture and aesthetics. Buildings such as Notre Dame or the Minster of York set the trend that would characterise the whole of Europe until the onset of the Baroque period. Pointed towers, ribbed vaults, bay windows and playful carvings depicting everyday courtly life are some of the typical features that make the heterogeneous style recognisable. The work of the Türings can be traced particularly well in the old town centre. Many of the town houses still have Gothic ground plans, courtyards and carvings. Niklas Türing is responsible for the famous

The Türings shaped Gothic Innsbruck in the transitional period between the Middle Ages and early modern times. Niklas Türing is responsible for the Goldene Dachl to a large extent. He also created the statue of the castle giant Haidl, a particularly tall member of Siegmund's bodyguard, which can be seen today in the town tower. Emperor Maximilian held him in such high esteem that he allowed him to place the family coat of arms of the Türings and his wife, a fountain and a fish, in the vault of the Goldenen Dachls to immortalise him. His son Gregor immortalised himself with the Trautsonhaus in der Herzog-Friedrich-Straße und am Burgriesenhaus in the Domgasse. The last of the Türings to have an influence on the Innsbruck building scene was Niklas Türing the Younger, who began planning the Hofkirche together with Andrea Crivelli. In the 16th and 17th centuries, the influence of the Gothic style began to wane, especially in what is now Austria. Churches in particular were increasingly remodelled and rebuilt in the Baroque style as part of the Counter-Reformation. Today, Türingstraße in the east of Innsbruck is a reminder of the early modern dynasty of master builders.

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