Ambras Castle Innsbruck

Ambras Castle Innsbruck is a massive castle complex located on the city boundaries of Innsbruck, the capital of the Tyrolean state, in Austria. The castle consists of the Ambras High Castle, the Ambras Lower Castle, the Spanish Hall, and the administration building. The property is situated at an elevation of 654 meters in the heart of a large castle park with cultural and historical relics.

The castle is managed by the Burghauptmannschaft sterreich, while the park is managed by the Austrian Federal Gardens. The castle houses the Kunstmuseum Schloss Ambras, which displays the collections of Archduke Ferdinand II, one of the most prominent patrons of the arts in the Renaissance. Ambras Castle is one of the most important and frequented tourist destinations in Tyrol, as well as one of Austria’s most prominent landmarks.

The Origins of Ambras Castle

The name Ambras derives from the Latin phrase ad umbras, meaning “in the shadows”, which refers to the location of the castle in a wooded area. The castle was originally the residence of the Counts of Dießen-Andechs, whose ancestors lived there as early as the 10th century (sources date it to the 11th). The castle was destroyed by Henry the Proud in 1133, but was rebuilt after 150 years.

The last Andechser, Duke Otto VIII of Merania, married Elisabeth, daughter of Count Albert III of Tyrol, in 1234. Otto died in 1248, and Albert inherited his dominions. Ambras passed to Elisabeth’s second husband, Gebhard IV von Hirschberg, after Albert died in 1253. Elisabeth died without children in 1256, and her niece Adelheid’s husband, Meinhard I. from Gorizia, inherited Ambras and the fledgling state of Tyrol.

Ambras was still a sovereign property at that time. Together with the adjoining Straßfried Castle, which housed a governor at the time, it controlled the roads between Innsbruck, the Inn Bridge at Hall, the low mountain plateau, and the lower Silltal.

The Habsburg Era

The castle fell to the Habsburgs in 1363, following the death of the last Gorizia, Margaret of Tyrol, who had married Louis of Wittelsbach. The castle was used as a hunting lodge by Emperor Maximilian I, who also built a chapel and a hunting tower there.

The most significant transformation of the castle occurred during the Renaissance, when Archduke Ferdinand II (1529-1595) expanded the old fortress. He was the second son of Emperor Ferdinand I and the nephew of Emperor Charles V. He was also the ruler of Tyrol and the founder of the Catholic League.

Ferdinand II transformed Ambras into a magnificent mansion and gave it to his secretly wedded middle-class wife, Philippine Welser, who was a member of a wealthy merchant family from Augsburg. Ferdinand II and Philippine Welser had two sons, who were legitimized by the emperor. Ferdinand II also built the Lower Castle, which contains the Spanish Hall, a splendid banquet hall with 27 portraits of Tyrolean rulers. The Lower Castle also houses the Armouries, which display the weapons and armor of Ferdinand II and his ancestors.

Ferdinand II was an avid collector of art, books, and curiosities. He created the Ambras Collections, which are considered the oldest museum in the world. The collections include the Chamber of Art and Curiosities, which contains natural and artificial wonders, such as coral, shells, automata, paintings, and sculptures. The collections also include the Gallery of Portraits, which contains over 200 portraits of European nobility, as well as the Habsburg Portrait Gallery, which contains portraits of Ferdinand II’s family and relatives. The collections also include the Strasser Glass Collection, which contains over 150 pieces of glassware from the 16th and 17th centuries.

The Ambras Collections were preserved by Ferdinand II’s descendants, who continued to live in the castle until 1665. After that, Tyrol was no longer the home of a sovereign and was largely excluded from courtly representation. The castle was used for a variety of functions, including garrison quarters and a military hospital until the mid-nineteenth century. It was most recently used as a barracks until 1842, when it was enlarged for residential uses in the 19th century by Archduke Karl Ludwig, administrator of Tyrol from 1855 to 1861.

The Museum Era

The Museum kk Ambras Collections first opened its doors in 1880, under the auspices of Emperor Franz Joseph I. The museum was the first to display the Ambras Collections to the public, as well as other artworks and historical objects from the castle. The museum was also the first to use electric lighting, which was installed in 1882.

Since 1900, Ambras Castle has been accessible through the Innsbruck low mountain railway via the Schönruh station, formerly known as Ambras Castle, and currently also via the Tummelplatz stop, which occasionally has an extra stop.

Ambras Castle was to become the summer residence of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the crown, from 1913. However, he was assassinated in 1914, with the outbreak of the First World War.

Ambras was annexed by the Republic of Austria in 1919, following the collapse of the monarchy. Although the state of Tyrol claimed ownership of the castle and the Ambras collections as former imperial property, the monument office denied this, e.g., so that Italy could not take sections of the collection in the name of the annexed South Tyrol.

The museum reopened in 1922 after renovations began in 1913 but were halted in 1914 owing to the onset of World War I.

After being closed owing to the Second World War, the museum reopened in 1948. Ambras Castle is shown on Austria’s first silver euro commemorative coin, which was issued in 2002.

Innsbruck, Austria