Maximilian III (1558 - 1618) was not only Governor of Tyrol and Vorderösterreich, but also Archduke of Austria, Administrator of Prussia and Grand Master of the Teutonic Order. The pious and moralising Habsburg occupies the ungrateful middle seat between the eccentrics Ferdinand II and Leopold V, which is why he is not firmly anchored in the memories of many Tyroleans. Maximilian the German master officially took up his post as Governor of Tyrol and Vorderösterreich in 1602. He was a pious and deeply religious man. Like many Habsburgs, he had to reconcile Christian charity with the office of sovereign in a peculiar way. He regularly withdrew for long periods into the seclusion of his study in the Capuchin monastery, founded in 1594, in order to live there in the most modest conditions and in abstinence. Under him, strict customs were introduced in Innsbruck. According to legend, children were forbidden to play in the streets. As a fervent representative of the Counter-Reformation, the manifestation of the Catholic faith was of particular concern to him. Unlike his predecessors, he wanted to achieve this through moral rigour rather than ostentatious building projects. He limited himself to completing churches that had already been started, such as the Servite Church or the Jesuit Church. Under his regency, the Jesuits expanded their educational mission by studying theology and dialectics. The deanery of Innsbruck was established. St Nicholas was given his own priest.

However, his piety did not exclude scientific interest and the practical measures derived from it for the good of the city. The 17th century was a time when open-minded aristocrats turned to alchemists to replenish the state coffers and had horoscopes cast by scientists such as Johannes Keppler, while they violently campaigned against the "heresy" of the Protestants. The Jesuit, physicist and astronomer Christoph Scheiner, one of the discoverers of sunspots alongside Galileo Galilei, spent three years at Maximilian's court in Innsbruck researching the human eye. Maximilian had him set up a telescope and carried out astronomical research together with Scheiner. The city's fire-fighting system and the hygiene of the Ritschenwhich served as a sewerage system and water source, were improved under him according to the latest knowledge of the time.

This was intended to protect the city from a repeat of the great catastrophe under Maximilian's aegis. During his reign, he had to contend with the outbreak of a plague epidemic. The Dreiheiligenkirche church in Kohlstatt, the working-class neighbourhood of the early modern period near the armoury, was built under his patronage to mark the occasion. The Thirty Years' War broke out in 1618 during his reign, but spared Innsbruck for the most part.

Maximilian died in the same year. His tomb in Innsbruck Cathedral is one of the most impressive tombs of the Baroque period.

Another Grand Master of the Teutonic Order from the House of Habsburg with a connection to Innsbruck is also buried next to him. Archduke Eugene was the supreme commander of the Austro-Hungarian army on the Italian front during the First World War. The Teutonic Order vividly illustrates the theological way of thinking and the connection between pious faith and secular power in the early modern period. In the period up to 1500, devout piety and the fear of God were often combined with the exercise of secular power. The order was founded as an order of knights around 1120 as part of the Crusades in Jerusalem. Church and chivalry united to enable pilgrims to visit the holy cities, especially the Church of the Holy Sepulchre, without danger. After the expulsion from Palestine, the knights of the Teutonic Order became involved on the side of Christian Magyars in Transylvania in present-day Romania against pagan tribes.

In the 13th century, the Order under Hermann von Salza was able to gain a great deal of land in the Baltic region in the fight against the pagan Prussians and to establish the Teutonic Order state establish. The Christian Order acted as a kind of state that, like religious fundamentalists today, invoked God and wanted to establish his order on earth. It was ideals such as Christian charity and the protection of the poor and helpless that also drove the Teutonic Order at its core. This made it an ideal fit for the Habsburg dynasty.

After the decline of the Order in north-east Europe in the 15th century, the Order retained its possessions and power through skilful liaison with the nobility and the military, particularly in the Habsburg Empire.

Anyone travelling in Austria will be familiar with the domes and onion domes of churches in villages and towns. This form of church tower originated during the Counter-Reformation and is a typical feature of the Baroque architectural style. They are also predominant in Innsbruck's cityscape. Innsbruck's most famous places of worship, such as the cathedral, St John's Church and the Jesuit Church, are in the Baroque style. Places of worship were meant to be magnificent and splendid, a symbol of the victory of true faith. Religiousness was reflected in art and culture: grand drama, pathos, suffering, splendour and glory combined to create the Baroque style, which had a lasting impact on the entire Catholic-oriented sphere of influence of the Habsburgs and their allies between Spain and Hungary.

The cityscape of Innsbruck changed enormously. The Gumpps and Johann Georg Fischer as master builders as well as Franz Altmutter's paintings have had a lasting impact on Innsbruck to this day. The Old Country House in the historic city centre, the New Country House in Maria-Theresien-Straße, the countless palazzi, paintings, figures - the Baroque was the style-defining element of the House of Habsburg in the 17th and 18th centuries and became an integral part of everyday life. The bourgeoisie did not want to be inferior to the nobles and princes and had their private houses built in the Baroque style. Pictures of saints, depictions of the Mother of God and the heart of Jesus adorned farmhouses.

Baroque was not just an architectural style, it was an attitude to life that began after the end of the Thirty Years' War. The Turkish threat from the east, which culminated in the two sieges of Vienna, determined the foreign policy of the empire, while the Reformation dominated domestic politics. Baroque culture was a central element of Catholicism and its political representation in public, the counter-model to Calvin's and Luther's brittle and austere approach to life. Holidays with a Christian background were introduced to brighten up people's everyday lives. Architecture, music and painting were rich, opulent and lavish. In theatres such as the Comedihaus dramas with a religious background were performed in Innsbruck. Stations of the cross with chapels and depictions of the crucified Jesus dotted the landscape. Popular piety in the form of pilgrimages and the veneration of the Virgin Mary and saints found its way into everyday church life.

The Baroque piety was also used to educate the subjects. Even though the sale of indulgences was no longer a common practice in the Catholic Church after the 16th century, there was still a lively concept of heaven and hell. Through a virtuous life, i.e. a life in accordance with Catholic values and good behaviour as a subject towards the divine order, one could come a big step closer to paradise. The so-called Christian edification literature was popular among the population after the school reformation of the 18th century and showed how life should be lived. The suffering of the crucified Christ for humanity was seen as a symbol of the hardship of the subjects on earth within the feudal system. People used votive images to ask for help in difficult times or to thank the Mother of God for dangers and illnesses they had overcome. Great examples of this can be found on the eastern façade of the basilica in Wilten.

The historian Ernst Hanisch described the Baroque and the influence it had on the Austrian way of life as follows:

„Österreich entstand in seiner modernen Form als Kreuzzugsimperialismus gegen die Türken und im Inneren gegen die Reformatoren. Das brachte Bürokratie und Militär, im Äußeren aber Multiethnien. Staat und Kirche probierten den intimen Lebensbereich der Bürger zu kontrollieren. Jeder musste sich durch den Beichtstuhl reformieren, die Sexualität wurde eingeschränkt, die normengerechte Sexualität wurden erzwungen. Menschen wurden systematisch zum Heucheln angeleitet.“

The rituals and submissive behaviour towards the authorities left their mark on everyday culture, which still distinguishes Catholic countries such as Austria and Italy from Protestant regions such as Germany, England or Scandinavia. The Austrians' passion for academic titles has its origins in the Baroque hierarchies. The expression Baroque prince describes a particularly patriarchal and patronising politician who knows how to charm his audience with grand gestures. While political objectivity is valued in Germany, the style of Austrian politicians is theatrical, in keeping with the Austrian bon mot of "Schaumamal".

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.

Today, Innsbruck is known as a business centre primarily for its university, hospital, administration and tourism. This was not always the case. The first early form of industrialisation began to develop in Innsbruck in the 15th century. Bell and weapon founders such as the Löfflers set up factories in Hötting, Mühlau and Dreiheiligen, which were among the leading factories of their time. Industry not only changed the rules of the social game with the influx of new workers and their families, it also had an impact on the appearance of Innsbruck. The workers, unlike the farmers, were not the subjects of any master. Capital from outside came into the city. Houses and churches were built. The large workshops changed the smell and sound of the city. The smelting works were noisy, the smoke from the furnaces polluted the air.

The second wave of industrialisation came late in Innsbruck compared to other European regions. Members of the lesser nobility invested the money they had received after 1848 as compensation for their land as part of the land relief in industry and business. Farmers without land travelled from the surrounding area to Innsbruck to find work. In 1838, the spinning machine arrived in Pradl over the Arlberg via the Dornbirn company Herrburger & Rhomberg. H&R had acquired a plot of land on the Sillgründe. Thanks to the river's water power, the site was ideal for the heavy machinery used in the textile industry. More than 20 companies used the Sill Canal around 1900, and the noise and exhaust fumes from the engines were hell for the neighbours, as a newspaper article from 1912 shows:

„Entrüstung ruft bei den Bewohnern des nächst dem Hauptbahnhofe gelegenen Stadtteiles der seit einiger Zeit in der hibler´schen Feigenkaffeefabrik aufgestellte Explosionsmotor hervor. Der Lärm, welchen diese Maschine fast den ganzen Tag ununterbrochen verbreitet, stört die ganz Umgebung in der empfindlichsten Weise und muß die umliegenden Wohnungen entwerten. In den am Bahnhofplatze liegenden Hotels sind die früher so gesuchten und beliebten Gartenzimmer kaum mehr zu vermieten. Noch schlimmer als der ruhestörende Lärm aber ist der Qualm und Gestank der neuen Maschine…“

Just like 400 years earlier, the Second Industrial Revolution changed the city forever. Neighbourhoods such as Pradl and Wilten grew rapidly. While the new wealthy business class had villas built in Wilten, Pradl and Saggen and middle-class employees lived in apartment blocks in the same neighbourhoods, the workers were housed in workers' hostels and mass accommodation.

After the revolutionary year of 1848 and the new circumstances, the everyday lives of many Innsbruck residents became even more bourgeois. Innsbruck experienced the kind of gentrification that can be observed today in trendy urban neighbourhoods such as Prenzlauer Berg in Berlin. In one of his texts, the Innsbruck writer Josef Leitgeb tells us how people experienced the urbanisation of the formerly rural area:

„…viel fremdes, billig gekleidetes Volk, in wachsenden Wohnblocks zusammengedrängt, morgens, mittags und abends die Straßen füllend, wenn es zur Arbeit ging oder von ihr kam, aus Werkstätten, Läden, Fabriken, vom Bahndienst, die Gesichter oft blaß und vorzeitig alternd, in Haltung, Sprache und Kleidung nichts Persönliches mehr, sondern ein Allgemeines, massenhaft Wiederholtes und Wiederholbares: städtischer Arbeitsmensch. Bahnhof und Gaswerk erschienen als Kern dieser neuen, unsäglich fremden Landschaft.“

The change from rural life in the village to the city involved more than just a change of location. While the landlord in the countryside was still the master of the private lives of his farmhands and maidservants and was able to determine their lifestyles up to the point of sexuality by releasing them for marriage, they were now at least somewhat freer individually. Beda Weber wrote about this in 1851:

„Their social circles are without constraint, and there is a distinctly metropolitan flavour that is not so easy to find elsewhere in Tyrol."

The hitherto unknown phenomenon of leisure time emerged and, together with disposable income, favoured hobbies for a larger number of people. Clubs of all kinds emerged. Parks such as the English Garden at Ambras Castle were no longer exclusively accessible to the aristocracy, but served as recreational areas for the general public. New green spaces such as Rapoldipark and Waltherpark were created.

The existing rifts between the city and the surrounding area deepened, which can still be seen to this day. Anyone travelling from the university city of Innsbruck to one of the nearby side valleys will find a completely different world. Starting with the spoken dialect, the Stubai Valley, just a few kilometres south of Innsbruck, is very different from the provincial capital, not to mention the more distant side valleys such as the Ötztal in the west or the Zillertal in the east of Tyrol.