Völs is a market town with 6938 inhabitants (as of January 1,
2020) in the state of Tyrol in Austria. The municipality is located
in the judicial district of Innsbruck.
Fiè lies at 574 m
above sea level in the Inn Valley and borders Innsbruck to the west.
Fiè has an area of 5.62 km².
Völs is connected to the state
capital via the S-Bahn Tirol / S-Bahn Tirol line of the S-Bahn
Tirol.
History
The oldest evidence of settlement are stone
ax finds from the 3rd millennium BC. Coin finds and the Völser
Bacchus, a ten centimeter high, 1.38 kilogram bust, which served as
the sliding weight of a speed scale, date from the Roman period.
This find from the 1st century AD is considered to be one of the
most important finds of its kind in Tyrol.
The first written
records come from the years 1183/88, when a "Heinricus de Velles" is
mentioned in the tradition book of Benediktbeuern Monastery, which
the more recent literature refers to Völs with reservations. In 1312
Völs became a tax municipality.
In 2001 Völs was raised to a
market town.
The Blasius mountain with chapel.
Well-known is the new
building of the Völs Church by the Tyrolean architect Josef Lackner,
whose floor plan is supposed to represent a crown of thorns that
turns upwards into the royal crown (also called "stick tooth" due to
the distinctive roof shape).
Infrastructure
The most important features in Völs include the
“Völser Badl” outdoor pool and the “Cyta” shopping center. Most of
the events take place in the event center "Blaike" and in
"Vereinshaus 1". As a shopping and residential suburb, Völs is
directly adjacent to Innsbruck.
The Völsersee settlement is
next to the Olympic Village in Innsbruck one of the most densely
populated settlement areas in the Innsbruck metropolitan area and is
not far from the approach path of Innsbruck airport. Nevertheless,
the quality of living is good, as the daily distances in particular
are short and there is a good range of leisure activities available
in the area. During the construction of this settlement, Völs
promoted the installation of electrical heating systems to avoid
increased emissions.
The historical "Völser See" was in the
west of the village. It was artificially created in the 15th
century, had an area of about 30 hectares and was used for hunting
and fishing. The lake was abandoned around 1800 and is silted up
today. Plans to build a new “Völser See” in the first half of the
20th century were not implemented. Today the much smaller “Völser
Teich”, which was built in 1983, is used for local recreation for
the population and as a habitat for many animal and plant species.
Economy
Although Völs is inhabited by many commuters who work
in Innsbruck, many trading companies have set up shop in the Völs
industrial park, especially in the area of the Cyta. The Cyta
represents the counterpart to the DEZ shopping center in the east of
Innsbruck, even if it has had competition with the West shopping
center in Hötting. In addition, the MPreis headquarters are a large
company based in Völs.
Sports
Völs is home to many sports
clubs such as the local football club SV Völs. In addition to the
"first", the combat team, there are also various junior teams. The
sports field in Völs is well equipped with a grass field, an
artificial turf field, an athletics track, a basketball court and a
recently built beach volleyball court. In winter, the artificial
turf field is converted into an ice rink. There is also a free skate
park not far from the sports field.