Imperial Church

Imperial Church

Ticket:

€3 for adults, €2 for students under 27, €1.5 for children aged 6 to 14. Combined ticket with the Volkskunstmuseum (Folk Art Museum) is €6.5

Opening hours:

9:00–17:00 from Monday to Saturday, 12:30 on Sundays and public holidays. In July and August, closing time is extended to 17:30.

Introduction

The Imperial Church (Hofkirche) was built in the 16th century and features three naves, housing the tomb of Emperor Maximilian I. The church is famous for the 28 life-sized bronze statues of knights (created by master artist Albrecht and goldsmith Vischer), which stand on both sides of the tomb, symbolizing the ancestors and descendants of the House of Habsburg. These statues are among the most important works of German Renaissance art and are also one of Tyrol’s most renowned artistic landmarks.

Between 1553 and 1556, Ferdinand I ordered the construction of this church, known as “the last resting place of the Knights of the Court.” It later became the mausoleum of Maximilian I, although the emperor himself was not buried here. Maximilian I had wished to be laid to rest in Innsbruck, but he ultimately was not; in 1519, after his death, he was interred in the Hofburg Palace Church in Wiener Neustadt. A symbolic Imperial Church was built in the Innsbruck palace where he ruled and remains standing to this day. At the center of the church now is a marble sarcophagus topped with a bronze statue of Emperor Maximilian, surrounded by 24 marble reliefs depicting key moments from his life. Around the sarcophagus are also 28 bronze figures representing his ancestors and descendants.

Innsbruck, Austria