INNSBRUCK, or INNSPRUCK (18,000), the chief town of Tyrol, Austria, is situated on the right bank of the Inn, not far from its junction with the Sill, in a beautiful valley surrounded by lofty mountains, which seem to overhang the town. It is connected with its suburbs on the left bank of the stream by three bridges. The old wooden bridge, which was the scene of a fierce struggle between the Tyrolese and the Bavarians in 1809, was replaced in 1871-72 by a handsome iron structure, and the banks of the Inn have, during the last few years, been widened and planted with trees. Innsbruck is the seat of the law courts and the usual administrative offices for the district of Tyrol and Vorarlberg. The town has broad streets, with four open places. The houses are handsome ; many of those in the old town date from the 17th and 18th centuries, and are built in the Italian style, adorned with frescoes, and having arcades beneath used as shops. The Franciscan or court church (1553-1563), in the Renaissance style, contains several works of art, of which the chief is the imposing cenotaph of the emperor Maximilian I. This monument of art, one of the most important on the Continent, represents the emperor kneeling in prayer on a marble sarcophagus, surrounded by twenty-eight colossal bronze statues of his ancestors ; while on the sides of the sarcophagus there are twenty-four reliefs, depicting the chief events in Maximilian's life. Alexander Colin executed most of the reliefs (see vol. vi. p. 141) ; and Gilg Sesselschreiber, court-painter, had the general superintendence of the work, and designed many of the statues. In the same church are the monuments of the patriots Hofer, Haspinger, and Speckbacher, and one in memory of the Tyrolese who fell in defence of their country between 1796 and 1809. The silver chapel of the church contains a silver Madonna and altarpiece, and the graves of Archduke Ferdinand If. and his wife Philippa. In this church Christina of Sweden, daughter of Gustavus Adolphus, publicly adopted the Roman atholic faith in 1654. Other churches worthy of note are the Pfarr-church, the Jesuits' church, the Serviten church, and St John's of Nepomuk. There are numerous monastic institutions, including a Jesuits' college, and a Capuchin convent, begun in 159:1 as the first of the order in Germany. The university, founded in 1672 and, after being twice suspended, finally reinstituted in 1826, had in 1880-81 a teaching-staff of 76, and (1879-80) 607 students. It possesses a fine library, and exhibitions to the annual value of 1:1200. The Ferdinand-cum, an interesting national museum, was founded in 1 S4 5, and is maintained by private enterprise. The other chief buildings are the palace, completed in 1771, the theatre, the post-office, the landhaus, town-house, and other official buildings, and several schools and benevolent institutions.

The ancient name of the town was CEni Pons or (Enipontmn, of Which Innsbruck (Bridge of Tun) is the German egnivalent. It received town privileges in 1234 from Duke (-)tto 1. of Merlin ; from that dato till about 1665 it was the capital of the Tyrolese counts ; and after the union of v with Austria in 1363 it became a favourite residence of the emperors. In 1552 Maarieo of Saxony surprised and took Innsbruck, almost capturing the emperor Charles V., to whom a mutiny among Maurice's troops afforded time for a hasty flight. In the war of the Spanish succession, and again in the patriotic Tyrolese wars at the beginning of the 19th centnry, Innsbruck suffered severely. During the coin-motions of 1S48, it was the temporary refuge of the emperor Ferdinand.