Welcome Innsbruck - SOMMER || SUMMER 2015

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WELCOME || 20
HOFBURG INNSBRUCK
Rennweg 1, 6020 Innsbruck
Opening hours: daily from9:00 am to 5:00 pm, last admission: 4:30 pm
Entrance fee: 8 € (Combined ticket for showrooms and special
exhibition)
SPECIAL EXHIBITION: “DAS LETZTE IM LEBEN”
An exhibition about death and grief (1765–2015)
The Hofburg takes the 250th death anniversary of Emperor Franz
I Stephan as an opportunity to host a comprehensive exhibition
about death and grief. The theme is, besides the Baroque Death Cult
of the Habsburg dynasty, dealing with dying and death across the
centuries. The changes of the ritual of death, such as the memory
cult throughout the different eras are brought to mind. The exhibiti-
on is a cooperation between the Austrian Castle & Fortress Authority,
the Tyrolean Museums and the Tyrolean Hospice Community. Open
from the 6th of June 2015 to the 10th of January 2016.
The Baroque Death Cult
After the typical ceremonies he was put into the black decorated
Giant Hall. A small picture showed the death Emperor in the roy-
al bed dressed in a Spanish coat dress and surrounded by funeral
crowns. At the end of his feet a vessel was placed that contained
the intestines, which had to be buried separately according to the
baroque tradition (in the heart-grave of St. Augustine‘s Church).
Possibly a grief framework was put in the Jesuit church. After three
days in the Giant Hall, he was moved with a carriage to Hall, whe-
re a farewell ceremony took place in the chapel Nepomuk. Then he
was transferred with a ship to Vienna, where he was buried in the
Capuchin Crypt.
In memory of…
Maria Theresia ordered, in everlasting memory of her husband, to turn
the room he died in, into the new Hofburg Chapel. Furthermore, she
ordered to decorate the Triumph Arch with new sculptural decorati-
on out of marble from Balthasar Moll. The south side was decorated
in memory of the wedding and the north side in memory of the de-
ceased Emperor, which was crowned with his laurel-adorned portrait.
Because Maria Theresia was concerned about her husband’s soul sal-
vation, she also arranged the foundation of a ladies’ convent, whe-
re 12 Tyrolean women (not under 24 years) were taken in to pray for
the soul of the deceased Emperor. The 3rd floor of the Hofburg ser-
ved temporarily as the venue for the ladies’ convent, later it was built
at the square Franziskanerplatz by Constantin von Walther. It opened
already within that same year for the birthday of the deceased (8th of
December). After the end of the monarchy, the Land of Tyrol took it
over, and it still stands to this day. ||
Maria Theresia errichtete die Hofkapelle in
der Hofburg Innsbruck in Erinnerung an den Tod
ihres Mannes Franz Stephan, der 1765 plötzlich
in Innsbruck verstarb. //
Maria Theresia ordered to build the
Court Chapel in memory of her deceased
husband Franz Stephan, who died
unexpectedly in Innsbruck in 1765.
©BHÖ/FOTOWETT