Four city towers protected Innsbruck

Town towers were the real 'trademark' of a medieval town. Rising majestically from the bulwark of the city wall, they not only 'ruled' over the city itself but also over the surrounding countryside. Entry to the city was only possible through one of these towers, which also served as customs stations. No one escaped the long arm of the authorities, who lived off the customs revenue.

In the Middle Ages, towers also embodied the will of their inhabitants to defend themselves. They emphatically symbolized that people were ready to fend off any attack. Innsbruck once had four defensive city towers and a 'passageway', which have now disappeared along with the city wall. I will briefly introduce them in this blog article.

Innsbruck became a lucrative hub

Anyone who thought Innsbruck was founded by the Romans was in for a disappointment. It was Bavaria, or more precisely the Counts of Andechs, who founded Innsbruck. They first established the market ‚Anspruggen’ in today's St. Nikolaus district and built a bridge to the other bank of the Inn around 1170. With good reason. This is where the trading center called ‚Insprugk‘ was established. Once it had been granted market rights, it developed into a source of money and gave its name to the settlement that was granted city rights in 1205: Innsbruck. For better or worse, all Eastern Alpine trade from and via the Brenner Pass now had to pass through the 'bottleneck' of Innsbruck first. East or west - it didn't matter. They had to pass the Inn gate and the Inn bridge. The customs revenue brought prosperity to Innsbruck.

This prosperity had to be defended. The town wall was built in the 13th and 14th centuries, leaving four passages open in all directions. The towers were particularly solidly built, provided space for the guards and served as customs posts. A fifth passageway was mentioned in documents as the 'Tränkertörl'. This was probably a gate in the town wall through which cattle could be driven to the Inn to be watered. I have numbered the towers shown on the engraving from 1755. They will now be briefly introduced.

1 The Tränkertörl

... was probably located at the exit of today's Badgasse, i.e. near today's market square. It most likely served as a special entrance for the shepherds and drovers who had to supervise the animals and lead them to the drinking trough at Inn. The presence of this gate also prevented the cattle from blocking the entrances and exits to the town at the other gates. And, very importantly, the cow pats were not supposed to soil the citizens' shoes or stink up the city's main thoroughfare for days on end.

2 The Inn Gate

...was perhaps the most important gate in medieval Innsbruck. Situated on the city side, it was virtually the 'bridgehead' of the Inn Bridge, the most important medieval bridge in the city. The gate was therefore also called the 'Inn Bridge Gate'. Today you can still guess how the tower was connected to the Ottoburg was connected to the bridge.

The appearance of this tower is known from two plans drawn when the tower was demolished in 1790. Numerous other engravings confirm this appearance. One of these is Matthäus Merians, whose view of Innsbruck shows the tower with four watchtowers on top. (picture above). A large omission and the gate to the bridge, the shape of which corresponds to the 1790 plan. The Inntor also housed a fire station and, at times, the city archives. I owe the depiction of the plan to the Innsbruck city archives.

3 The Pickentor

...is known as the fourth city gate. It probably closed off today's Seilergasse. In any case, the gate is depicted by Johann Michael Strickner in a colored copperplate engraving from 1755/56 as a connection to today's market square. Detailed depictions of this tower have not survived.

4 The suburban or hospital gate

This tower was the third large defensive tower within the Innsbruck city wall. It formed the southern entrance to the old town. As the hospital was located on the other side of the city wall (in today's Maria Theresienstraße), the gate was sometimes also referred to as the hospital gate. It was demolished together with the customs house as part of the urban modernization of Innsbruck at the behest of Empress Maria Theresia in 1765. The ruler also made short work of the walls because the gate was far too narrow for the forthcoming wedding of her son Leopold to the Spanish princess Maria Ludovica. No harm without good: The large stone blocks of the tower were immediately used as the foundation of the triumphal gate, which was to be erected especially to welcome the newlyweds.

5 The Rumertor or heraldic tower

Perhaps the most important tower was the one on the eastern edge of the old town. Once called 'Saggentor', then 'Rumertor', it represented the passageway between Hofgasse and [/]Rennweg.

When the Rumer gate burned down in 1494, Emperor Maximilian I commissioned the construction of a new, magnificent tower. It was clear that it could not be a 'normal' tower, which Emperor Maximilian commissioned his court architect Niklas Türing to build. He also commissioned the court painter Jörg Kölderer to design a magnificent heraldic façade decoration that surpassed all previous 'heraldic towers'. As is well known, the emperor feared that he would be forgotten after his death. This was one of the reasons why he wanted to depict the size of his dominion on the east façade. A total of 54 coats of arms of the countries that Maximilian owned or wanted to own adorned the tower. Banner bearers to the left and right of the gate displayed the Habsburg coat of arms on one side and the Tyrolean eagle on the other. The coat of arms program on its east-facing outer façade was intended to impressively inform the newcomer who and how powerful the lord of this city was that one entered through this gate. The coat of arms tower was an excellent example of Maximilian I's striving for courtly representation.

Unfortunately, the coat of arms tower is no longer visible today: during the reign of Empress Maria Theresa, it was absorbed into today's south roundel as part of the Baroque reconstruction of the Hofburg. The colored copperplate engraving, which today gives us an idea of the grandeur of the tower, was made by Salomon Kleiner.

My tip:

Experience Tirol

If you want to ride alongside Emperor Maximilian in a carriage through medieval Innsbruck, you can. 'Experience Tirol' is the name of a fantastic presentation of our country using state-of-the-art technology on the 2nd floor of Kaufhaus Tyrol. It also shows the old town at the time of Emperor Maximilian's reign, especially the suburban gate.

Innsbruck remembers

If you are interested in Innsbruck's history in the form of stories, the blog page of the Innsbruck City Archives is the right place for you. It is one of the best sites I know of in the German-speaking world. Entertaining, wonderful texts bring hidden historical gems of our city to light.