Location: Schloßstraße 20, 6020, Innsbruck Map
Constructed: built in 10th century and rebuilt in the 16th century by emperor Ferdinand II
Tel. 01 525 244 802
Official site
Ambras Castle is a large castle complex on what is
now the south-eastern city limits of Innsbruck, the
capital of the Tyrolean state, in the district of Amras,
which was an independent village until it was
incorporated in 1938. The castle includes the so-called
Ambras High Castle, the Ambras Lower Castle, the Spanish
Hall and the administration building. The property is
located at an altitude of 654 meters in the middle of a
spacious castle park with cultural and historical
monuments.
The building complex is administered
by the Burghauptmannschaft Österreich, the park by the
Austrian Federal Gardens. Inside the upper and lower
castle is the art museum Schloss Ambras Innsbruck.
Ambras Castle is one of the most important and most
visited tourist attractions in Tyrol and one of the most
important sights in Austria.
Ambras was the castle of the Counts of Dießen-Andechs, whose
ancestors resided there ad umbras (in the shady) as early as the 10th
century (sources document the 11th century). In 1133 the castle was
destroyed by Henry the Proud. After 150 years it was rebuilt. The last
Andechser, Duke Otto VIII of Merania, was with Elisabeth, daughter of
Count Albert III. from Tyrol, married; after Otto's death in 1248,
Albert inherited his dominions. Albert died in 1253, and Ambras now fell
to Elisabeth's second husband, Gebhard IV von Hirschberg. Elisabeth died
in 1256 without children; thus the husband of the other Albert daughter,
Adelheid, inherited Meinhard I from Gorizia, Ambras and the emerging
state of Tyrol.
Ambras remained a sovereign property. Together
with the neighboring Straßfried Castle - at the time the more important
one, a governor sat there - it controlled the routes between Innsbruck,
the Inn Bridge near Hall, the low mountain plateau and the lower
Silltal.
After the death of the last Gorizia, Margarete von
Tirol, the castle fell to the Habsburgs in 1363. Emperor Maximilian I
used it as a hunting lodge.
Archduke Ferdinand II (1529-1595)
expanded the medieval castle during the Renaissance. He turned Ambras
into a magnificent palace and signed it over to his secretly married
middle-class wife Philippine Welser.
When Tyrol was no longer the
seat of a sovereign after 1665 and was largely withdrawn from court
representation, the castle served various purposes such as troop
quarters and a military hospital until the middle of the 19th century.
It was barracks until 1842, before the castle was expanded again for
residential purposes in the 19th century under the governor of Tyrol
1855-1861, Archduke Karl Ludwig.
The museum k.k. Ambras
Collections was opened in 1880.
Since 1900, Ambras Castle has
been accessible with the Innsbruck low mountain railway via the Schönruh
stop, originally called Ambras Castle, and now also via the Tummelplatz
stop, which at times has an additional stop.
After 1913 Ambras
Castle was to become the summer residence of the family of Archduke
Franz Ferdinand, heir to the throne. But he was murdered in 1914, during
which the First World War broke out.
After the abolition of the
monarchy, Ambras fell to the Republic of Austria in 1919 with the
Habsburg Law. Although the state of Tyrol had asserted its claims to the
castle and the Ambras collections as former imperial property, this was
rejected by the monument office, e.g. so that Italy could not
appropriate parts of the collection in the name of South Tyrol.
The museum was reopened in 1922 after the renovations begun in 1913 had
to be stopped in 1914 due to the outbreak of the First World War.
After the museum was closed due to the Second World War, it was
reopened after 1948. Austria's first silver euro commemorative coin
depicts Ambras Castle.
The Kunstmuseum Schloss Ambras Innsbruck is part of the
Kunsthistorisches Museum Wien. It is the first museum in the
world and is one of the internationally most important art
museums: the core of the museum shows the collections of the
Renaissance prince Archduke Ferdinand II (1529-1595), one of the
most important collectors of the Habsburg dynasty. For the
collections, he had the Ambras Lower Castle built, one of the
earliest museum buildings ever and the earliest surviving
Renaissance building, in which the original collections are
still on display today. The objects on display from the armory
and the cabinet of art and curiosities are outstanding in number
and quality. The museum contains the only Renaissance cabinet of
art and curiosities still on site. Ferdinand II implemented the
systematic collection and presentation here, and the museum is
therefore considered to be the beginning of modern museums.
Construction of the castle
building history
Nothing
remains of the original castle of the Counts of Andechs, as it
was destroyed in 1133. The keep, palas and foundations of the
chapel date from the 13th and 14th centuries, when Ambras was
owned by the Gorizia.
The cross vault of the Palas goes
back to Sigmund the Coin Rich.
The transformation into a
Renaissance castle took place through the conversions by
Archduke Ferdinand II (1529-1595), who acquired the castle in
June 1564 for 15,300 fl. The builders were Giovanni and his son
Alberto Luchese, according to plans by the architect Giovanni
Battista Guarienti (Johann Guarient; or Quarient), with
Ferdinand II demonstrably having a say in the building
development in the planning stage. At the same time, the Spanish
Hall was built and work began on the “Lower Castle”, an
irregular, pentagon-shaped, independent complex open to the east
to house the library and the museum. It was then one of the
earliest explicit museum buildings ever and is today the only
surviving Renaissance building where the collections are still
on display. The "Ballspielhaus", the "Beamtenhaus" and the
"Schlosswarterhaus" were also built.
1564–1567 Conversion
of the high castle and expansion of the western fore castle
(with kitchen and dining room)
1569–1571 Spanish Hall
1570-1572 "Kornschütt" with library, antiquarium and hunting
armory
1572-1583 "Art & Curiosity Chamber" and three
armouries
1589 Subsequent addition of the "heroes' armory"
(removed 1881)
In the 19th century Ambras was expanded
again for residential purposes by the architect Ludwig Förster
and later by his son Heinrich under the governor of Tyrol
(1855-1861), Archduke Karl Ludwig.
1855-1858 neo-Gothic
additions to the high castle:
Raised fourth floor of the keep
with crowning turret
Stair tower on the south front
Balconies on the north and west facades
glazed gallery on the
second floor of the inner courtyard, removing a loggia from the
Ferdinand period
New gate tract
New façade of the west
side of the Spanish Hall in the form of a stepped gable
Bathhouse in the Keuchengarten (no longer preserved)
1863-1867 St. Nicholas Chapel designed by August Wörndle in
neo-Gothic style
1860 romantic ramp led to the high castle
The forelock was in danger of slipping, which is why it was
removed from 1847 by the floor of the dining wing. The large
ceiling painting there, The Starry Sky, painted by Giovanni
Battista Fontana in 1586, was removed but not restored there,
but only later, in 1880, in what is now the Third Armory of the
Ambras Lower Castle.
In the zeitgeist of the last quarter
of the 19th century, the imperial collections were to be
presented in new, independent houses equipped with modern
hanging and building technology. Johann Deininger was entrusted
with the corresponding conversion of Ambras Castle from 1877.
The museum Anbraser Collections was opened in 1880. In the
course of this, some dilapidated buildings were removed, around
1880/81 the heroes' armory and the ball game house as well as
the summer house in the Keuchengarten.
Stair tower on the
south front
New facade of the west side of the Spanish Hall
with bricked-up cornice with horizontal structure
Removal of
the dilapidated turret at the keep in 1899
In the 20th
century, the neo-Gothic additions were removed again under
Archduke Karl Ludwig in order to come close to a sight as it is
known from the earliest engraving from 1649 by Matthäus Merian.
As early as 1913, the fourth floor of the keep and the corridor
in the inner courtyard disappeared again due to the master
builder Ludwig Simon. However, the access ramp to the high
castle was left in place.
Hexagonal clock tower
In
1997, a new entrance area for the Spanish Hall was created with
the farmer's armory in the basement in order to relieve the
conservation-sensitive hall. A stepped terrace porch disturbs
the west front of the Spanish Hall in a postmodern way.
In 2017, the KHM Museum Association created a new gastronomy,
the "Ferdinand Café & Bistro Schloss Ambras", in the historic
rooms of the "Gothic Kitchen" in the high castle. The adaptation
was implemented by the architect Christian Knapp from the
Kohlmayr, Lutter, Knapp architects’ office – winner of the 2017
American Architecture Prize in the two categories of restoration
and interior design.
The Spanish Hall of the Ambras Palace is one of the most beautiful rooms in the castle. It was constructed in 1569- 1572 and reflects the influence of Renaissance artists and aesthetics of the time. Floor of the Spanish Hall is covered by a tiles of different colours while a ceiling is covered by intricate wooden tiles that are hand cut in different shapes and forms. The walls are covered by 27 full length portraits of various princes and rules of the Tyrol region. Today this 43 meter long hall is reserved for classical concerts.
If you come to the Ambras Castle probably the best place to take them is by bringing them to the Armory that held medieval weapons. Ambras Castle has many collections of various art, but while other halls might be quiet boring it might be a good idea to show them something that is truly cool and exciting. Once they will grow up, they might start paying more interest to other forms of art. As long as you convince them that museum are interesting and fun you did your job.
The castle park surrounds the castle above the district of Amras.
Immediately after the main entrance you can see the Great Weiher. The
area surrounded by a wall is largely laid out as an English landscape
park. Worth seeing are the Bacchus grotto, the wheezing garden
(whistling = prison) and the artificial waterfall, which is fed by a
branch of the Aldranser Bach. At the northern entrance to the park are
the remains of the steeple of the former St. George's Church. The park
has been owned by the Republic of Austria since 1928 and is administered
by the Federal Gardens. Since 2007, the complex has been under monument
protection. Essentially, the Ambras Castle Park has been divided into
three parts over the centuries around the central Renaissance Castle:
the game park to the east of the castle, the west and north sides of the
landscaped part of the park and the Keuchengarten as a Renaissance
garden complex on the south side.
History of the Ambras Castle
Park
Archduke Ferdinand II had the castle park designed from 1567
when Ambras Castle was converted into a magnificent Renaissance castle.
1574 are documented in a detailed description by Stephanus Venandus
Pighius forests, fish ponds, game reserve, vineyards, gardens and summer
houses. Today's wildlife park with mixed deciduous forest, rocks,
gorges, paths, bridges and artificial waterfall goes back to this design
phase. Pleasure gardens were laid out to the west and south of the high
castle. These garden areas were not preserved after the archduke's death
in 1595: they were used for agriculture. The rock cellar, the Bacchus
grotto and some other garden buildings remained.
Archduke Karl
Ludwig, as Tyrolean governor, had the summer residence expanded from
1855. The northern and western parts were designed as a landscape
garden. Solitary trees and groups of trees were planted in the park, and
a large pond was created in the lower area.
In the second half of
the 20th century, some changes were made to the park: the construction
of the motorway required a reduction in area on the north side. The
Keuchengarten area, some of the formerly ungreened courtyards and the
entrance from the west gate were redesigned in accordance with the taste
of the 1970s. A playground was built in the wildlife park.
Cultural monuments in the palace park
Bacchus Grotto
Supported by
a strong pillar and four arches, the grotto, originally called
"Felsenkeller", was laid out in the park of Ambras Castle by order of
Archduke Ferdinand II. A basement building, which can be seen in the
1649 engraving by Matthäus Merian, was demolished in 1882. In 1574, the
Bacchus grotto was first described in Stephanus Pighius' travelogue in
connection with the reception ceremony for the princely guests. The
highlight of this ritual was the "drink test": "hidden chains and bars"
held the guests who could only free themselves by drinking a wine-filled
vessel, the "welcome". That is why the grotto was named "Bacchus grotto"
after the Roman god of wine. After passing the drinking test, the guests
wrote a motto in one of the three drinking books that are still in the
collections of Schloss Ambras Innsbruck. They contain autographs of
important personalities of the time. The drinking glasses used for the
rite have also been preserved to this day. The “hidden chains and bars”
are probably the incomparable Kunstkammer piece of the Ambraser drinking
chair, decorated on the back using iron carving technique with
floral-grotesque ornamentation and hunting motifs: a chair made of iron,
which is hinged on the front and back is collapsible. Anyone who sat
down in the chair was held in place by a highly complex hidden mechanism
with gripper arms attached to the shoulders and limbs. Today, the
Ambraser Fangstuhl is a highlight of Archduke Ferdinand II's cabinet of
arts and curiosities, where, according to an entry in the estate
inventory of 1596, it was originally in the seventh box.
Since
the beginning of the 16th century, starting in Italy, artificial grottos
have been laid out in gardens and castles throughout Europe based on
ancient models. The Roman nymphs of the 2nd and 3rd centuries served as
models. This meant wells and caves dedicated to the nymphs, female
nature spirits.
Panting garden
South of the High Castle, in front of the Spanish
Hall, is the so-called panting garden. The linguistic origin of Keuchen
(mhd., "prison") probably goes back to the medieval, trapezoidal,
three-storey "prison tower" in the south-east corner, which was
completely included in the new building during the conversion to a
Renaissance castle around 1563. The Keuchengarten is on a lower terrace
level and thus in clear contrast to the level of the lower palace and
its forecourt area, which has only been greened since the second half of
the 20th century. During the reign of Archduke Ferdinand II, a square
garden divided into nine bed compartments was laid out in the center of
the Keuchengarten, in the center of which a round pavilion with columns
and an onion-shaped roof was erected. To the south-east was what was
known as the "summer house," a rotunda where water tricks could be
experienced: a maple table that could be made to rotate by water-powered
wheels, and where guests could be splashed with water. The summer house
is no longer preserved, nor is the ball game house bordering the
Keuchgarten to the east. Today there is still a hexagonal, brick,
tower-like garden building on the north-east corner and a stair tower
slightly above it, which is elevated on the slope.
After the
death of Ferdinand II in 1695, the Keuchengarten was converted into an
orchard.
In the 19th century, Archduke Karl Ludwig, as Tyrolean
governor, had the summer residence expanded from 1855, with the
Keuchengarten receiving a kidney-shaped bathing pool with a surrounding
formal garden design based on plans by Heinrich Förster. Boxwood, yew
and blood barberry hedges as well as trimmed boxwood balls and yew cones
were planted. Since then, the garden room has shown these landscape and
formal transformations of the mid-18th century. The swimming pool should
have been dismantled after 1913; However, the work was stopped in 1914
as a result of the World War and it is still there today.
At the
end of the 20th century, the engraving by Matthäus Merian the Elder was
taken. Ä., (1649) as a model to redesign the lower courtyard of Ambras
Castle in 1974. In 1997, a garden-historical quote from the second half
of the 16th century was added: The Austrian Federal Gardens designed
part of the Keuchen Garden in the spirit of the Renaissance, based on a
design by Maria Auböck and János Kárász, based on an Austrian garden
pattern book by Hans Puechfeldner, which was published around 1592-1594
in Prague for Emperor Rudolph II.
Venetian fountain
The
demolition of the dilapidated ball game house on the step between the
upper and lower courtyard of Ambras Castle in 1880 made it necessary to
redesign the garden. In 1914, a Renaissance-style Venetian fountain was
installed there. This was preceded by the planning of a fountain with
bronze figures by Caspar Grass, which were kept at Ambras Castle. The
plan from 1884 by the Tyrolean state curator Johann Deininger never came
to fruition and these bronzes became part of the Leopold Fountain in
Innsbruck's city center in 1893.