Tyrol and its People Part 6

CHAPTER IV

INNSBRUCK, ITS HISTORY, PEOPLE AND TREASURES

The approach to Innsbruck, whether one come to it by railway or by road from the west, north, east or south, is picturesque and even wonderfully beautiful. Most English and American travellers, however, we imagine, come to the old-time capital of Tyrol via Zurich and the Arlberg railway, with its marvellous tunnel all but six and a half miles in length, above which tower snow-clad peaks and glaciers. This route provides a wonder-world of delight, a succession of deep gorges lying at the foot of towering mountains covered on their summits with a mantle of spotless and eternal snow. At one moment the train traverses a steep gradient climbing slowly along the hillside as though the line were laid upon a shelf of rock from which nothing but a miracle can keep it from tumbling into the foaming torrent below; the next plunging into the darkness of one of the many tunnels, to emerge a moment or two later into a blaze of light and vistas of still greater beauty. The Arlberg railway is not alone an engineering triumph; it is also an artistic one. Few lines in Europe present greater charm or variety of scenery in so comparatively short a distance. To enter Tyrol by it is to see the country as it is, largely unaltered from the days when Napoleon's armies entered it also from the Swiss frontier with the same objective, Innsbruck.

Soon after leaving Feldkirch the valley commences to contract as the line climbs upwards from Bludenz and pa.s.ses through the beautiful Kloster Thal; and at Langen one suddenly comes into the region of Alpine pastures, and from the valley below one can hear the musical tinkle of cow-bells, and discover on the hill-slopes picturesque groups of peasants minding their flocks. Then comes the ascent through the famous Arlberg tunnel, which is 26 feet in width and 23 feet in height, with its six and a half miles of gloom succeeded by magnificent scenery as St. Anton is pa.s.sed, and the line proceeds through the narrow Stanzer valley, between towering mountains, many of whose peaks are snow-covered. Soon it crosses the wonderful Trisanna Viaduct which, in one arch of nearly 150 yards in length, spans the gorge of the Patznaum valley, at the bottom of which, nearly 200 feet below the line, rushes the glacial stream, and thence past the ancient Castle of Wiesberg onwards to Landeck, which is set in a wide valley with its commanding castle.

From Landeck by taking a carriage one can reach Innsbruck in a leisurely way along the Finstermunz high-road via Sulden and Trafoi, and thence along the Stilfserjoch, the highest carriage road in Europe, which climbs to the height of 9055 feet above sea level. This was constructed between the years 1820-25 by the Austrian Government, and traverses a wonderful variety of exquisite scenery, from the region of the eternal snow on the Ortler and Monte Cristallo to the vine-clad slopes of the Val Tellina. The most impressive scenery is, however, found on the Tyrol side of the pa.s.s.

From Landeck the line pa.s.ses many another picturesque village; castles, whose history would fill volumes, seem to stand stark and stern almost on every mountain spur, some now mere ruins, others wonderful survivals of a past age, sometimes environed by pine-clad slopes, at others half-encircled by rushing torrents washing the bases of the rocky promontories upon which they stand, whilst above one towers on either hand the illimitable glaciers and snow slopes of the Eastern Alps. Thus through ever interesting and beautiful scenery one at last approaches Innsbruck.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE TRISANNA VIADUCT AND CASTLE WIESBERG]

[Ill.u.s.tration: A PEEP OF THE ZILLERTHAL]

[Sidenote: INNSBRUCK]

Innsbruck is not only the capital of Tyrol, a town of upwards of 50,000 inhabitants, renowned historically and climaterically, but it is also the junction of two important lines of railway by means of which one can get eastward to Vienna and the East, and southward into Italy.

It has been said that of all Tyrolese towns Innsbruck is the least national. Such a statement, although tinctured with truth, needs some qualification. In the season it certainly puts on a cosmopolitan air, and one meets numbers of English, Austrians, Germans, French, Americans, Italians, and Anglo-Indians in its streets; and games and entertainments make up a social round of considerable gaiety. But the town nevertheless retains its native charm, bred of historic memories, ancient buildings, and the hospitality of its people.

To the northward, sheltering it from the cold winds from off the Bavarian plains, stands the bulwark of the eternal heights which literally wall in Tyrol. There rise the magnificent groups of limestone mountains towering above the fertile Inn Valley, the Frauhitt and Martinswand with their romantic traditions and memories, the Seegrubenspitzen, and Rumerjoch and Brandjoch. In fine weather they appear but a stone's throw from the bottom of the Maria-Theresien-Stra.s.se, or from the Ferdinands Allee which runs along the south bank of the Inn, with its maples and poplars graceful and shady.

Situated amid so much beauty of scenery, favoured by an equable climate and much sunshine, it is little wonder that the town has become a popular resort, more especially during the winter months. The valley is at its broadest where the city stands, allowing a wide prospect and charming views from the slopes of St. Nicolaus and Mariahilf across the river to the Berg Isel, and the wooded sides of the Mittelgebirge, with here and there a tiny village with outstanding spire perched high on the mountain side, or set amid the plain. The valley lies east and west of Innsbruck with the river flowing eastward like a silver ribbon, amid cultivated fields of fertile alluvial soil, threading its way through the gradually narrowing valley to Kufstein and thence through Bavaria to the Danube.

This Alpine city, pregnant with so many historical memories, deeds of blood and chivalry, engirdled by the everlasting hills, is, with the possible exception of Salzburg, the most picturesque and interesting of all German Alpine towns.

The character of Innsbruck of to-day differs very materially in some respects from what it was two decades ago. The modern element, which always comes to such places with greater notoriety and prosperity brought by travellers and tourists, has become developed, but happily as yet not greatly to the detriment of the old-time air which still permeates its narrow, ancient streets, and by-ways, courts, and buildings. In some of the former, the Maria-Theresien-Stra.s.se at the south end of which stands the Triumphal Arch and Gate, and the Herzog-Friedrich-Stra.s.se, for example, the old and the new are strangely mingled. It is not a little owing to this distinguishing feature as well as to its beautiful environment that Innsbruck owes its charm. With much of the convenience, it possesses less of the vexing artificiality of ancient places vulgarized by the exigencies of modern travel than do many similar towns. In some parts one might almost imagine one's self in one of the larger mountain villages, in another at Pontresina, or St. Moritz, minus, however, some of the more artificial gaiety of these resorts.

[Sidenote: INNSBRUCK TYPES]

During the season--more especially the summer--there are numbers of German tourists as well as Austrian to be seen in the streets, and in their almost boisterous enjoyment of their sight-seeing and holiday amus.e.m.e.nts they form a very marked contrast to the quieter and perhaps somewhat restrained English and American visitors, who as a general rule set about exploring the place and its treasures with a much more preoccupied and business-like air.

From the higher and more distant valleys, too, many mountaineers and peasants come down to enjoy a few hours' marketing or the pleasures of the town. They form not the least interesting feature of the summer crowd which throngs the new as well as the old streets of Innsbruck.

The women, many of them, wear picturesque costumes, consisting of velvet bodices, skirts of often beautiful shades of green and brown; ap.r.o.ns elaborately worked, or of lace; and sailor-shaped hats of black or green felt, often ornamented by gold embroidery under the brims and with two long ribbons (frequently also of velvet) hanging down or fluttering in the wind at the back. These hats are singularly like those of the Breton peasants, only they are worn more by the women than the men, whilst in Brittany women seldom wear them.

The fact that Innsbruck is a garrison town accounts for the presence of a large number of soldiers about the streets; green plays a prominent part in many of the uniforms--more especially of Tyrolese regiments--whilst the officers of several wear a particularly smart shade of blue-grey, or "pastel" blue cloth with tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs of cerise, scarlet, or green, which seldom fail to arouse the admiration of the ladies. The countryfolk, too, crowd the streets on market days with feathers in their hats which are often of beautifully "weathered"

golden green or bright green felt.

The history of Innsbruck from the tenth century onwards is indeed largely that of Tyrol itself. The name as a town appears first to have occurred in a doc.u.ment of the year 1027 which was a grant to the chapel of St. James' in the Field (St. Jacob in der Au), which most probably occupied the site on which the stately church of the same name erected in 1717 now stands. Long before this date, however, a settlement of people--small at first--had taken place at this crossing or ford of the Inn, brought into existence by the growing and profitable commerce between Germany and Italy by way of the Brenner.

Both the travelling merchants and the Tyrolese themselves soon found the place a convenient depot for the heavier goods and articles of merchandise, such as skins, wines, cloths, and metal ware; and as the years went by it gradually grew to be more than a convenient halting-place for the merchants and their pack trains on their journeys. Houses fit to accommodate the well-to-do were erected, and Innsbruck as a flourishing town came into being. Towards the end of the twelfth century certain rights over the town were acquired by a von Andechs, Berthold II., from the monks of Wilten to whom it belonged; and in consequence of these rights, Otto I., his successor, encircled it with walls, fortifications, and watch-towers, and also built himself a palace.

The rise of Innsbruck was from the middle of the thirteenth century a steady one. At that period it was made the sole depot for the storage of goods between the Zillerthal and the Melach; and as the years went by other privileges were granted to the steadily growing town, which not only served to maintain but also to increase its importance.

In 1279, Bruno, Bishop of Brixen, consecrated another church in the Ottoburg, which was called the Moritzkapelle. The town's lords, spiritual as well as temporal, appear to have done what they could to foster and encourage its growth, and there are records of festivities and princely entertainments on a lavish scale within the precincts of the Ottoburg in those far-off times. It was not, however, until after the cession of Tyrol to Austria by the d.u.c.h.ess Margaret, known as "Pocket-mouthed Meg," that the admirable situation of Innsbruck was fully realized. Ultimately, the convenience of its water communication by the Inn and Danube with other distant and flourishing towns of the Empire seems largely to have brought about its adoption as the seat of government for Tyrol.

[Sidenote: INNSBRUCK'S RULERS]

Innsbruck throughout the centuries, so far as its rulers are concerned, appears to have been "fortune's child." Many privileges were granted to it from time to time, and the staunch fidelity of the citizens to Duke Rudolph IV. of Habsburg at the time of one of the periodic Bavarian invasions resulted in further concessions being granted which served to place Innsbruck in the una.s.sailable position of being both the capital and the most prosperous town in the Tyrol.

Duke Frederick of the Empty Pocket (_Mit der leeren Tasche_) made Innsbruck his home and base of operations whilst endeavouring to put down the Rottenburgers and other of the powerful n.o.bles, who were attempting to set him at defiance and continue the oppression of the countryfolk which they had commenced and carried on during the unstable and weak government of Frederick's immediate predecessors.

The Innsbruckers gave him loyal and very material support in his endeavours, and reaped a substantial reward in the favours and privileges which Frederick afterwards granted to them.

It was this prince who gained, by contact with his people when a fugitive amongst the mountains and valleys of Tyrol, a knowledge of them (and thereby earned their affection) that made it possible for him ultimately to call the peasantry to arms, and to defy the power of the Emperor Sigismund, Ernest the Iron Duke of Styria, and his other enemies.

The circ.u.mstances of Frederick's call of the people to arms was romantic in the extreme. Indeed, his doings in the early years of his outlawry by the Church and State read like pages of the most stirring romance. Perhaps some of the deeds recorded are more or less legendary, but enough remains to fill to overflowing with stirring incidents the pages of any historical romance. Briefly the story of the event is as follows. a.s.sured during his many wanderings of the people's devotion to him, for when pursued they had sheltered him, and when discovered they had boldly refused to surrender his person to his enemies, Frederick devised a plan by which he should appear as the princ.i.p.al actor in an heroic peasant comedy at the great fair at Landeck. This play set forth in stirring scenes the fortunes or rather misfortunes of an exiled prince driven from his throne by his enemies, compelled to wander dest.i.tute, and with a price upon his head amongst his people, whom he eventually calls to arms and leads to victory and thus recovers his inheritance.

He must have played his part remarkably well if one may judge by the results. The people, who had come to the fair from all parts of the country roundabout were stirred to the very depths by his acting, and by his pourtrayal of the imaginary prince's misfortunes. We are told the audience were many of them moved to tears and that when Frederick came to sing of the people following their ruler's call to arms the enthusiasm became uncontrollable.

Then, so the tale goes, Frederick threw off all disguise, and made a direct appeal to them. The vast audience vowed to support his cause, and the enthusiasm which swayed the Landeckers was not long spreading through the whole country with the result that shortly afterwards the Emperor Sigismund and Frederick's brother concluded a truce with him and he was allowed to become ruler.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE FAMOUS "GOLDEN ROOF," INNSBRUCK]

During his reign he did much to show his grat.i.tude to his loyal friends and people by curbing the oppressive power of the n.o.bles, and granting many privileges which were on the whole more for the benefit of the poor than of the rich.

[Sidenote: THE "GOLDEN ROOF"]

But to many who come to Innsbruck we fancy Frederick's fame rests not upon his wisdom as a ruler so much as upon his extravagance in building the world-famous "Goldne Dachl" to the elegant late-Gothic balcony of his palace at the foot of the Herzog-Friedrich-stra.s.se. The nickname of "Empty Purse" or "Pocket" had been bestowed upon him by his enemies, who sought to belittle him when he attained to power. It was not certainly his by common consent. The Tyrolese account rather points to the fact that Frederick at one time had impoverished himself in his endeavours to relieve his subjects from the burdens of taxation, and in consequence the n.o.bles who were no believers in his system of government in this respect bestowed upon him this somewhat approbrious _sobriquet_. Frederick saw in this a reproach not perhaps so much directed against himself as against his people in general. It seemed to him to indicate that his enemies thought those for whom he had undoubtedly done much kept him poor and would do nothing to keep up a state in character with his position as ruler. He therefore built the famous roof.[10] Outside the house which was then the Furstenburg or princely dwelling, now very ordinary looking and far less imposing and ornate in character than say the Heblinghaus hard by, he in 1425 erected over the two-storied balcony the "Goldne Dachl," on which piece of mediaeval display of wealth he is stated to have expended 30,000 ducats or about 14,000. In it there are 3450 gilt upon copper tiles, which have several times since Frederick's day been regilded.

The last occasion on which this was done is upwards of twenty years ago.

It is necessary, however, for us to say that considerable doubt exists whether Frederick--who is now supposed not even to have built the house--did construct the roof which has done so much to immortalize his nickname. Loth though one is to destroy a romantic story, truth compels us to state that the most reliable evidence points to the Emperor Maximilian as the originator of the roof and probably the balcony also in 1500, after his second marriage with Maria Bianca Sforza of Milan.

The house has long ago descended from its high position as a royal palace, even at times of recent years having been let to private families or in apartments, but the famous "Goldne Dachl" over the beautiful oriel window, with its Gothic balconies, the bal.u.s.trades of which are decorated with carved armorial bearings and shields in marble, has been preserved as a beloved relic almost in its original state. Within the house itself is a curious old fresco, the subject of which has been the cause of much dispute. On the second floor is an interesting sculptured bas-relief, depicting Maximilian and his two wives, Mary of Burgundy and Maria Bianca Sforza, with the seven coats-of-arms belonging to the seven provinces over which the Emperor held sway.

Frederick's son Sigismund succeeded him, and for a time kept a brilliant and gay Court at Innsbruck, but being without direct heirs he in 1490 gave up Tyrol to his cousin who, three years later, became the Emperor Maximilian I. Maximilian in turn did much for the town which he adopted as his Tyrol home, and by his residence in Innsbruck, after he had become the Emperor of a wide dominion, he did much to increase its importance and prosperity. He it was who built a new palace in the Rennplatz, called the Burg, which scarcely forty years later was burned down. The Great Hall, called the Goldene Saal, and the state bedroom, the decorations and furniture of which were so beautiful and magnificent that it was known as _das Paradies_, were eventually totally destroyed, many of the occupants of the palace, including the children of the Emperor Ferdinand of that time, escaping with their lives with difficulty.

Maximilian, who became familiar to his Innsbruckers as the "Kaiser Max," especially endeared himself to them by reason of his frank manners and love of the chase and mountaineering.

[Sidenote: ANCIENT INNS]

Amongst the many interesting mediaeval buildings which have happily survived in Innsbruck there are several in the immediate neighbourhood of the famous "Goldne Dachl." One of the oldest, if not the oldest, is the Ottoburg of Otto I. standing at the end of the Herzog-Friedrich-stra.s.se close to the River Inn; and, indeed, only separated from it by the Herzog-Otto-stra.s.se. This, the residence of the Andechs, was built in 1234, and was the reputed birthplace of Otto III. A quaint motto concerning it remains, which, roughly translated, runs--

"Here the Ottoburg firmly stands, A house upheld by G.o.d's own hands."

In this ancient building many dramatic scenes of Tyrolese history took place.

Close by is the oldest Inn, the famous and deeply interesting Goldener Adler (Golden Eagle) to which, in former times, before modern hotels and conveniences were esteemed indispensable, every visitor of distinction to Innsbruck came. The "visitors' list" of the Goldener Adler is one long entry of n.o.bles and celebrities.

Indeed, during the time it was the acknowledged resort of the n.o.bility and even monarchs who came to Innsbruck, it sheltered amongst its many distinguished guests and travellers the Emperor Joseph II.; Ludwig I., King of Bavaria; Gustave III. of Sweden; Heinrich Heine, the gifted though melancholy poet; and Goethe, who came to Innsbruck with the Dowager d.u.c.h.ess Amalie of Saxe-Weimar in 1790. In commemoration of this visit a bust of the poet adorns the room which he occupied. And last, but by no means least, the Goldener Adler housed the patriot Andreas Hofer. It was regarding the portraits of the latter, of his enemy Napoleon Bonaparte, and of Ludwig of Bavaria that Heine remarked on seeing them hanging side by side in the dining-room of the Inn that it was strange to see such enemies grouped together even though merely portraits. Tradition has it that it was from the middle window of the famous Goldener Adler that Hofer made his speech to the surging crowd in the narrow street below on August 15, 1809, when he entered the town in triumph after the third battle on Berg Isel. A copy of the speech, which was a modest though stirring oration, has been preserved at the Inn.

One of the most delightful vistas of the old town is to be obtained from the corner where stand the three well-known Inns, the Goldener Hirsch, Rother Adler, and Goldener Lowe; whilst from the balcony of the old Stadtthurm or belfry a fine view over the town and of the environing mountain summits rewards the adventurous climber.

The old-fashioned "lauben" or arcades of the Herzog-Friedrich-stra.s.se in particular, under which are set out tiny stalls often kept by picturesquely attired girls and women, seldom fail to attract the attention of visitors.

On either side of the street these "lauben" stretch under the low arcaded roofs, providing not only a cool promenade in the heat of summer, but a shelter which on wet days can be fully appreciated, for, to speak frankly, Innsbruck in wet weather strikes one if one wanders in the byways as a somewhat muddy though intensely interesting town.

In these "lauben" one frequently sees types of the older Tyrolese in the national costume, which in the towns of Tyrol (as in those of other countries) show signs of dying out. Old women in the short skirts, and picturesque ap.r.o.ns, quaint hats and bodices, of the mountain districts and villages, and the old men, wrapped (if the weather be cold) in long, flowing, cloaks of green or russet cloth, smoking their long pipes with painted porcelain bowls, on which are often as not stirring scenes in miniature from the life of Hofer.