Jesuits, Franciscans, Premonstratensians, Carmelites, Servites, Capuchins, Ursulines. Visitors to Innsbruck usually walk past many monasteries without realising it. The Jesuits were probably the most politically influential order in the history of the city. The "Soldaten Christi" were founded by the former nobleman and officer Ignatius of Loyola (1491 - 1556). Loyola was a moral reformer. Unlike Luther, he wanted to change the church, but not without the Pope as its head. In their zeal for reform, the Jesuits focussed on better training for the clergy and higher moral standards based on Christian roots in everyday church life. Their most important contribution was the founding of schools and universities. Protestant countries and cities had begun to German schoolsacademies and grammar schools. As many subjects as possible should be able to read in order to find piety and salvation in individual and direct Bible reading. The Jesuits, on the other hand, concentrated on educating the elite and thus gained lasting influence in the centres of power of the Catholic states. Not only aristocrats, priests and politicians, but also civil servants were educated in schools and colleges.

The Jesuits founded the Latin school in Innsbruck, from which the university would later emerge. The new school had a major impact on the city's development. The intelligentsia was educated here, enabling Innsbruck's rise as an administrative and economic centre. Its activities were interrupted under Joseph II. He disempowered and expropriated ecclesiastical orders, including the Jesuits, whom he had little love for. Under him, the University of Innsbruck was downgraded to a lyceum in 1781. It was not until 1838 that the Jesuits were reappointed to Innsbruck. In addition to professorships at the university, they had the Theresianuma grammar school for the aristocracy, in a leading role.

Thanks to the educational system, skilful structures, discipline and organisation adopted from the military, the Order grew rapidly and managed to establish a special relationship with the Habsburgs during the Counter-Reformation. Many members of the dynasty can be recognised in their rule and actions as having been influenced by the order from which they received their education. Jesuits such as Bartholomew Viller or Wilhelm Lamormaini were politically influential as confessors and advisors to the Habsburgs in the early modern period. It is no coincidence that the Jesuits are still the adversaries of the Freemasons in countless conspiracy theories and novels and are regarded by many as the modern-day equivalent of the James Bond villain.

A keen supporter of the Jesuits in Tyrol was the Tyrolean prince and later Emperor Ferdinand I. Like Ignatius of Loyola, he had grown up in Spain. He had just as many difficulties with the customs of the Germans and the non-existent Reformation movement in Spain as he did with the language. The Tyrolean population, on the other hand, were alienated from their sovereign, who, with his foreign court, could easily be mistaken for an occupying power. A connecting element between the two worlds was the Roman Church, especially the Jesuits.

The Jesuits were very open to research, knowledge gathering and education and wanted to learn to understand the world in terms of Christian creation. For Catholics, this made them a hip antithesis to both the dusty existing orders and the Protestants. Faith and empiricism combined to form a kind of pre-modern science that attempted to explain nature and physics. Ferdinand II's collection at Ambras Castle bears witness to the thirst for research of the time, as do the alchemical experiments carried out by Emperor Matthias.

For all their love of science, mysticism also returned to everyday church life under the Jesuits. Passion plays, Easter sepulchres, processions and feast days were intended to soften the strict principles of the faith with drama and spectacle. The Marian Congregation, known as the MK in Innsbruck in the 1960s and 70s, was one of the largest youth centres in Europe. In a modern sense, it can certainly be seen in the tradition of the Church's gentle introduction to the faith and the education of young people.

The Jesuit order, fully committed to popular belief, was also highly motivated when it came to persecuting witches and people of other faiths. In the then recently discovered New World in America and Asia, the Jesuits were eager to proselytise the local pagan population. St Francis Xavier, one of Ignatius of Loyola's first companions, died on a missionary journey in China. In a side chapel of the Jesuit church in Innsbruck, this Soldaten Christi an altar was consecrated.

One of the most important Jesuit theologians was Petrus Canisius (1521 - 1597). The educated cleric quickly rose through the ranks of the newly founded Jesuit order and was installed by Emperor Ferdinand as one of the most important ecclesiastical politicians in the empire. During his travels across Europe, Petrus Canisius also spent some time in Innsbruck and played a key role in the establishment of the Jesuit order. He was both a confessor to the aristocracy and a churchman for the masses, reaching out to the rural population while travelling through the villages of Tyrol. He recognised that Latin was not the language to immunise peasants, farmhands and maids against Protestantism. With his catechism, Petrus Canisius wrote an important German-language collection of ideas in the Catholic struggle against the Protestant Reformation, which was translated into all languages and was long regarded as a guide for the Catholic Church.

Today, Karl-Rahner-Platz is not only home to the Jesuit Church, but also the Faculty of Theology at the University of Innsbruck. In Saggen, the Collegium Canisianum belongs to the Jesuits.

In the 1950s, Innsbruck began to recover from the crisis and war years of the first half of the 20th century. On 15 May 1955, Federal Chancellor Leopold Figl declared with the famous words "Austria is free" and the signing of the State Treaty officially marked the political turning point. In many households, the "political turnaround" became established in the years known as Economic miracle moderate prosperity in the years that went down in history. This period not only brought material change, but also social change. People's desires became more outlandish as prosperity increased and the lifestyle conveyed in advertising and the media became more sophisticated. The phenomenon of a new youth culture began to spread gently amidst the grey society of post-war Austria. The terms Teenager and latchkey child entered the Austrian language in the 1950s.

Films brought the big world to Innsbruck. Cinema screenings and cinemas already existed in Innsbruck at the turn of the century, but in the post-war period the programme was adapted to a young audience for the first time. Hardly anyone had a television set in their living room and the programme was meagre. The Chamber light theatre in Wilhelm-Greilstraße, the Laurin cinema in the Gumppstraße, the Central cinema in Maria-Theresienstraße, which Löwen-Lichtspiele in the Höttingergasse and the Leocinema of the Catholic Workers' Association in Anichstraße courted the public's favour with scandalous films.

1956 saw the publication of the magazine BRAVO. For the first time, there was a medium that was orientated towards the interests of young people. The first issue featured Marylin Monroe, including the question: Did Marylin's curves get married too? The big stars of the early years were James Dean and Peter Kraus, before the Beatles took over in the 1960s. After the Summer of Love Dr Sommer explained about love and sex. The first photo love story with bare breasts did not follow until 1982.

Bars, discos, nightclubs, pubs and event venues gradually opened in Innsbruck. Events such as the 5 o'clock tea dance at the Sporthotel Igls attracted young people looking for a mate. Establishments such as the Falconry cellar in the Gilmstraße, the Uptown Jazzsalon in Hötting, the Clima Club in Saggen, the Scotch Club in the Angerzellgasse and the Tangent in Bruneckerstraße had nothing in common with the traditional Tyrolean beer and wine bar. The performances by the Rolling Stones and Deep Purple in the Olympic Hall in 1973 were the high point of Innsbruck's spring awakening for the time being. Innsbruck may not have become London or San Francisco, but it had at least breathed a breath of rock'n'roll.

However, the vast majority of the social life of the city's young people did not take place in disreputable dives, but in the orderly channels of Catholic youth organisations. What is still anchored in cultural memory today as the '68 movement took place in the Holy Land did not take place. Neither workers nor students took to the barricades. Beethoven's wisdom that "As long as the Austrians still have brown beer and sausages, they won't revolt," was true.

Nevertheless, society was quietly and secretly changing. A look at the annual charts gives an indication of this. In 1964, it was still Chaplain Alfred Flury and Freddy with "Leave the little things“ and „Give me your word" and the Beatles with their German version of "Come, give me your hand", which dominated the Top 10, musical tastes changed in the years leading up to the 1970s. Peter Alexander and Mireille Mathieu were still to be found in the charts. From 1967, however, it was international bands with foreign-language lyrics such as The Rolling Stones, Tom Jones, The Monkees, Scott McKenzie, Adriano Celentano and Simon and Garfunkel, some of whom had socially critical lyrics, that occupied the top positions in large numbers.

The spearhead of the conservative counter-revolution was the Innsbruck bishop Paulus Rusch. Cigarettes, alcohol, overly permissive fashion, holidays abroad, working women, nightclubs, premarital sex, the 40-hour week, Sunday sporting events, dance evenings, mixed sex in school and leisure - all of these were strictly forbidden to the strict churchman and follower of the Sacred Heart cult.

Peter Paul Rusch was born in Munich in 1903 and grew up in Vorarlberg as the youngest of three children in a middle-class household. Both parents and his older sister died of tuberculosis before he reached adulthood. At the young age of 17, Rusch had to fend for himself in the meagre post-war period. Inflation had eaten up his father's inheritance, which could have financed his studies, in no time at all. Rusch worked for six years at the Bank for Tyrol and Vorarlbergin order to finance his theological studies. He entered the Collegium Canisianum in 1927 and was ordained a priest of the Jesuit order six years later. His stellar career took the intelligent young man first to Lech and Hohenems as chaplain and then back to Innsbruck as head of the seminary. Here he became titular bishop of Lykopolis in 1938, Innsbruck only becoming its own diocese in 1964, and Apostolic Administrator for Tyrol and Vorarlberg. As the youngest bishop in Europe, he had to survive the harassment of the church by the National Socialist rulers. Although his critical attitude towards National Socialism was well known, Rusch himself was never imprisoned. Those in power were too afraid of turning the popular young bishop into a martyr.

After the war, the socially and politically committed bishop was at the forefront of reconstruction efforts. He wanted the church to have more influence on people's everyday lives again. His father had worked his way up from carpenter to architect and probably gave him a soft spot for the building industry. He also had his own experience at BTV. Thanks to his training as a banker, Rusch recognised the opportunities for the church to get involved and make a name for itself as a helper in times of need. It was not only the churches that had been damaged in the war that were rebuilt. The Catholic Youth under Rusch's leadership, was involved free of charge in the construction of the Heiligjahrsiedlung in the Höttinger Au. The diocese bought a building plot from the Ursuline order for this purpose. The loans for the settlers were advanced interest-free by the church. Decades later, his rustic approach to the housing issue would earn him the title of "Red Bishop" to the new home. In the modest little houses with self-catering gardens, in line with the ideas of the dogmatic and frugal "working-class bishop", 41 families, preferably with many children, found a new home.

By alleviating the housing shortage, the greatest threats in the Cold WarCommunism and socialism, from his community. The atheism prescribed by communism and the consumer-orientated capitalism that had swept into Western Europe from the USA after the war were anathema to him. In 1953, Rusch's book "Young worker, where to?". What sounds like revolutionary, left-wing reading from the Kremlin showed the principles of Christian social teaching, which castigated both capitalism and socialism. Families should live modestly in order to live in Christian harmony with the moderate financial means of a single father. Entrepreneurs, employees and workers were to form a peaceful unity. Co-operation instead of class warfare, the basis of today's social partnership. To each his own place in a Christian sense, a kind of modern feudal system that was already planned for use in Dollfuß's corporative state. He shared his political views with Governor Eduard Wallnöfer and Mayor Alois Lugger, who, together with the bishop, organised the Holy Trinity of conservative Tyrol at the time of the economic miracle. Rusch combined this with a latent Catholic anti-Semitism that was still widespread in Tyrol after 1945 and which, thanks to aberrations such as the veneration of the Anderle von Rinn has long been a tradition.

Education and training were of particular concern to the pugnacious Jesuit. Despite a speech impediment, Rusch was a charismatic character who was extremely popular with his young colleagues and young people. In 1936, he was elected regional field master of the scouts in Vorarlberg. In his opinion, only a sound education under the wing of the church according to the Christian model could save the salvation of young people. In order to give young people a perspective and steer them in an orderly direction with a home and family, the Youth building society savings strengthened. In the parishes, kindergartens, youth centres and educational institutions such as the House of encounter am Rennweg in order to have education in the hands of the church from the very beginning.

In the 1960s and 70s there were two church youth movements in Innsbruck. The education of the elites in the spirit of the Jesuit order was provided in Innsbruck since 1578 by the Marian Congregation. This youth organisation, still known today as the MK, took care of secondary school pupils. The MK had a strict hierarchical structure in order to give the young Soldaten Christi obedience from the very beginning. Father Sigmund Kripp took over the MK in 1959. Under his leadership, the young people built projects such as the Mittergrathütte including its own material cable car in Kühtai and the MK youth centre Kennedyhaus in Sillgasse with financial support from the church, state and parents and with a great deal of personal effort. Chancellor Klaus and members of the American embassy were present at the laying of the foundation stone for this youth centre, which was to become the largest of its kind in Europe with almost 1,500 members, as the building was dedicated to the first Catholic president of the USA, who had only recently been assassinated.

The other church youth organisation in Innsbruck was Z6. The city's youth chaplain, Chaplain Meinrad Schumacher, took care of the youth organisation as part of the Action 4-5-6 to all young people who are in the MK or the Catholic Student Union had no place. Working-class children and apprentices met in various youth centres such as Pradl or Reichenau before the new centre, also built by the members themselves, was opened at Zollerstraße 6 in 1971. Josef Windischer took over the management of the centre. The Z6 already had more to do with what Dennis Hopper and Peter Fonda were doing on the big screen on their motorbikes in Easy Rider was shown. Things were rougher here than in the MK. Rocker gangs like the Santanas, petty criminals and drug addicts also spent their free time in Z6. While Schumacher reeled off his programme upstairs with the "good" youngsters, Windischer populated the basement with the Outsiders to help the lost sheep as much as possible.

At the end of the 1960s, both the MK and the Z6 decided to open up to non-members. Girls' and boys' groups were partially merged and non-members were also admitted. Although the two youth centres had different target groups, the concept was the same. Theological knowledge and Christian morals were taught in a playful, age-appropriate environment. Sections such as chess, football, hockey, basketball, music, cinema films and a party room catered to the young people's needs for games, sport and their first sexual experiences. The youth centres offered a space in which young people of both sexes could meet. However, the MK in particular remained an institution that had nothing to do with the wild life of the '68ers, as it is often portrayed in films. For example, dance courses did not take place during Advent, carnival or on Saturdays, and were forbidden for under-17s.

Nevertheless, the youth centres went too far for Bishop Rusch. The critical articles in the MK newspaper We discuss found less and less favour. After years of disputes between the bishop and the youth centre, it came to a showdown in 1973. When Father Kripp published his book Farewell to tomorrow in which he reported on his pedagogical concept and the work in the MK, there were non-public proceedings within the diocese and the Jesuit order against the director of the youth centre. Despite massive protests from parents and members, Kripp was removed. Neither the intervention within the church by the eminent theologian Karl Rahner, nor a petition launched by the artist Paul Flora, nor regional and national outrage in the press could save the overly liberal priest from the wrath of Rusch, who even secured the papal blessing from Rome for his removal from office. In July 1974, the Z6 was also temporarily closed. Rusch had the keys to the youth centre exchanged without further ado, a method he had also used with the Catholic Student Union when it got too close to a left-wing action group.

It was his adherence to conservative values and his stubbornness that damaged Rusch's reputation in the last 20 years of his life. When he was consecrated as the first bishop of the newly founded diocese of Innsbruck in 1964, times were changing. The progressive with practical life experience of the past was overtaken by the modern life of a new generation and its needs. The bishop's constant criticism of the lifestyle of his flock and his stubborn adherence to his overly conservative values, coupled with sometimes bizarre statements, turned the co-founder of development aid into a bishop. Brother in needthe young, hands-on bishop of the reconstruction, from the late 1960s onwards as a reason for leaving the church. His concept of repentance and penance took on bizarre forms. He demanded guilt and atonement from the Tyroleans for their misdemeanours during the Nazi era, but at the same time described the denazification laws as too far-reaching and strict. In response to the new sexual practices and abortion laws under Chancellor Kreisky, he said that girls and young women who have premature sexual intercourse are up to twelve times more likely to develop cancer of the mother's organs. Rusch described Hamburg as a cesspool of sin and he suspected that the simple minds of the Tyrolean population were not up to phenomena such as tourism and nightclubs and were tempted to immoral behaviour. He feared that technology and progress were making people too independent of God. He was strictly against the new custom of double income. People should be satisfied with a spiritual family home with a vegetable garden and not strive for more; women should concentrate on their traditional role as housewife and mother.

In 1973, after 35 years at the head of the church community in Tyrol and Innsbruck, Bishop Rusch was made an honorary citizen of the city of Innsbruck. He resigned from his office in 1981. In 1986, Innsbruck's first bishop was laid to rest in St Jakob's Cathedral. The Bishop Paul's Student Residence The church of St Peter Canisius in the Höttinger Au, which was built under him, commemorates him.

After its closure in 1974, the Z6 youth centre moved to Andreas-Hofer-Straße 11 before finding its current home in Dreiheiligenstraße, in the middle of the working-class district of the early modern period opposite the Pest Church. Jussuf Windischer remained in Innsbruck after working on social projects in Brazil. The father of four children continued to work with socially marginalised groups, was a lecturer at the Social Academy, prison chaplain and director of the Caritas Integration House in Innsbruck.

The MK also still exists today, even though the Kennedy House, which was converted into a Sigmund Kripp House was renamed, no longer exists. In 2005, Kripp was made an honorary citizen of the city of Innsbruck by his former sodalist and later deputy mayor, like Bishop Rusch before him.

Whereas in the Middle Ages and early modern times it was primarily the church and the aristocracy who were responsible for the development of infrastructure and buildings in public spaces, in the 18th and 19th centuries members of the wealthy middle classes set out to shape the cityscape with their projects. The best-known member of this new class of successful entrepreneurs in Innsbruck was Baron Johann von Sieberer.

Johann Sieberer was born in Going near Kitzbühel in 1830 as an illegitimate child. The Bishop of Salzburg liked to spend his days off in the Tyrolean mountains. The school system in the Tyrolean lowlands was also administered by the diocese of Salzburg at the time. During a visit to the local primary school, he noticed a particularly bright boy.  

In 1840, at the behest of the bishop, Sieberer was appointed to the Borromeo in Salzburg as a choirboy. The Archbishop of Salzburg recognised the boy's outstanding talent early on and allowed him to attend the Franciscan grammar school in Hall in Tyrol.

After leaving school, he studied law in Vienna before entering the service of the family of the Bishop of Salzburg, the Princes of Schwarzenberg. This family was one of the most influential in the Austrian aristocracy. Archduke Albrecht, in whose service Sieberer was, was the founder of the Viennese art collection Albertina. Sieberer worked in the administration of the family's industrial plants and got to know many members of the aristocracy and moneyed gentry of the K&K monarchy while travelling through the monarchy. When, through Albrecht's mediation, he worked from 1860 for the Insurance company Österreichischer Phönix he was able to turn these contacts into money. He amassed a large fortune by selling high policies to members of the Habsburg family and other aristocrats. He acquired his private villa in Meidling near Vienna and invested his money in apartment blocks in the capital.

Johann von Sieberer is best known for his generous foundations in Innsbruck. With the social changes of the 19th century, the traditional extended family began to lose its role as the first port of call in times of need in urban areas. Although the state had increasingly taken over welfare from the church since Maria Theresa and outsourced it to the local authorities, there was often a lack of funds. Sieberer, a devout Catholic in Innsbruck, filled this gap as a kind of patriotic patron in the spirit of Christian charity.

From 1885 until his death in 1914, Sieberer was a benefactor to the Tyrolean capital. The orphanage and a fund to run it, as well as the Franz Joseph Jubilee Travellers' Asylum, can be traced back to the philanthropist Sieberer's donations. He also contributed to the remodelling of the Jesuit church. Unfortunately, only archive photos show the magnificent Unification fountainwhich was erected in 1906 on the then still ostentatious station square in the style of historicism and had to make way for the new transport concept in 1940.

The orphanage and the Emperor Franz Josef travellers' asylum were infrastructure that could not be financed by the city due to the tight financial situation. The aristocracy and the church also ceased to be sponsors after the reforms of 1848. Sieberer felt he belonged to what Max Weber called the Protestant work ethic, but imitated the conservative aristocratic circles in which he had been socialised. The individual, virtuous citizen was to serve as an example to the collective. His two building projects were statements and expressions of a new bourgeois self-image. It is interesting to note that Sieberer, unlike monarchs and princes of the past, did not allow himself to be staged by name on his projects.

In 1909, Sieberer was made an honorary citizen of Innsbruck by Mayor Wilhelm Greil, and in 1910 he was made a baron by the Emperor. In Innsbruck, Siebererstraße in the Saggen district commemorates this great Innsbrucker. A memorial in honour of Sieberer was planned during his lifetime. The First World War and the political and financial problems that followed prevented its erection. 

Eines der bekanntesten und für Innsbruck bedeutendsten Fürstenpaare regierte Tirol exakt während der Zeit, in der der Dreißigjährige Krieg Europa verheerte. Als Maximilian III. von Österreich kinderlos starb, brauchte es einen Ersatz als Statthalter Tirols. Der Habsburger Leopold (1586 – 1632), im Jahr 1618 noch Bischof von Passau, wurde auserkoren, um die landesfürstlichen Regierungsgeschäfte zu führen. 1625 verzichtete der mittlerweile zum Herzog Erhobene auf seine kirchlichen Würden um heiraten und eine neue Tiroler Linie des Hauses Habsburg gründen zu können. Zur Braut erkoren wurde Claudia de Medici (1604 – 1648) vom mächtigen und reichen Fürstengeschlecht aus der Toskana. Die Medici hatten mit Baumwoll- und Textilhandel, vor allem aber mit Finanzgeschäften ein Vermögen verdient und waren zu politischer Macht gekommen. Die Hochzeitsfeierlichkeiten der Verbindung von Habsburg und Medici war eines der prächtigsten Feste in der Geschichte der Stadt und hielt die Stadt zwei Wochen lang in Atem. Das Brautpaar zog in einem langen Zug durch zwei eigens errichtete Pforten in der Stadt ein. Ein breites Unterhaltungsprogramm, darunter „Bears, Turks and Moors" sent Innsbruck into raptures and amazement.

Unter den Medici war Florenz das kulturelle und finanzwirtschaftliche Zentrum Europas geworden, vergleichbar mit dem New York des 20. Jahrhunderts. Damit konnte Innsbruck trotz dem Status als Residenzstadt nicht mithalten, auch wenn Leopold alles daransetzte, um das zu ändern. Fluchen, Herumschreien und der Gebrauch von Schusswaffen auf offener Straße wurden ebenso verboten wie das freie herumlaufen von Nutztieren innerhalb des Stadtgebietes. Abfälle, die besonders bei ausbleibendem Regen, wenn kein Wasser durch das Kanalsystem floss, ein Problem waren, wurden per fürstlicher Verordnung regelmäßig gereinigt.

Weniger prächtig als die Vorstellungen des Paares ihrer Residenzstadt war die Regierungszeit, die von den Wirren des Dreißigjährigen Krieges geprägt war. Innsbruck blieb zwar von direkten Kriegshandlungen verschont, die Versorgungslage war trotzdem prekär. Leopold und Claudia ließen sich ihre glamouröse Hofhaltung davon nur bedingt einschränken.

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 bekannt. Mit Leopolds Namen verbunden bis heute ist in Innsbruck besonders das Theater, ein Brunnen am Vorplatz erinnert an ihn. Kanzler Wilhelm Biener wurde ein Straßenname im Saggen gewidmet.

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 Tiergarten, ein Jagdrevier Ferdinands samt Lusthaus entworfen ebenfalls von Lucchese. Damit der Landesfürst sein Wochenenddomizil  erreichen konnte, wurde eine Straße in die sumpfige Höttinger Au gelegt, die die Basis für die heutige Kranebitter Allee bildete. Das Lusthaus wurde 1786 durch den heute als 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 Lusthaus, das der Pulverturm war, die Sportuniversität nach. In der Innenstadt ließ er das fürstliche Comedihaus am heutigen Rennweg errichten. Um Innsbrucks Trinkwasserversorgung zu verbessern, wurde unter Ferdinand die Mühlauerbrücke errichtet, um eine Wasserleitung vom Mühlaubach ins Stadtgebiet zu verlegen.

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.

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.

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".