Hofkirche, Innsbruck

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Hofkirche interior
Hofkirche interior

The Hofkirche (Court Church) Innsbruck, Austria, is a Gothic church built 1553–1563 by Ferdinand I as a memorial to his grandfather Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor (1459–1519),[1] whose cenotaph within boasts a remarkable collection of German Renaissance sculpture. It also contains the tomb of Andreas Hofer, Tirol's national hero.[2]

Although Maximilian's will had directed that he be buried in the castle chapel in Wiener Neustadt, it proved impractical to construct there the large memorial whose plans he had supervised in detail, and Ferdinand I as executor planned construction of a new church and monastery in Innsbruck for a suitable memorial. In the end, however, Maximilian's simple tomb remained in Wiener Neustadt and the Hofkirche serves as a cenotaph.

Contents

[edit] Church

Choirstalls and altar
Choirstalls and altar

The church, at Universitätsstrasse 2, was designed by architect Andrea Crivelli of Trento, in the traditional German form of a hall church that consists of three naves with a setback three-sided choir, round and pointed arch windows, and a steep crippled hip roof. Its layered buttresses reflect compromise of contemporary Renaissance design with German late Gothic style. Stonemasons Hieronymus de Longhi and Anton de Bol carved the fine Renaissance portal. The interior contains galleries, high slender colonnettes of red marble with white stylized Corinthian capitals, and a lectern. The gallery's original ribs made from sandstone from Mittenwald have been preserved, but after the main vault was damaged by earthquake in the 17th century, it was rebuilt in the baroque style.

The high altar seen today was designed in 1755 by the Viennese court architect Nicolaus Pacassi, and decorated with a crucifixion by the Viennese academic painter Johann Carl Auerbach, and bronze statues of saints Francisco and Theresa by Innsbruck court sculptor Balthasar Moll (1768). The Renaissance organ (1560) is by Jörg Ebert of Ravensburg, and described locally as one of the five most famous organs in the world. Domenico Pozzo from Milan painted the organ panels.

A side chapel, the Silver Chapel, was consecrated in 1578. It contains a silver altar to Mary incorporating three elephant tusks and three hundred kilos of ebony, and the tombs of Archduke Ferdinand II and his wife Philippine Welser (both by Alexander Colin).

[edit] Cenotaph

Maximilian's cenotaph
Maximilian's cenotaph

Emperor Maximilian's ornate black marble cenotaph occupies the center of the nave. Florian Abel, of the Prague imperial court, supplied a full-sized draft of the high tomb in the florid style of court Mannerism. Its construction took more than 80 years; the sarcophagus itself was completed in 1572, and in 1584 its final embellishments were added (the kneeling emperor, four virtues, and iron grille).

Trento mason Hieronymus Longi directed construction of the tomb proper. It consists of a base of the Hagau marble, a bronze relief frieze of trophies (vases, suit of armor, weapons, shields, musical instruments etc.), and above that two rows of white marble reliefs. The 24 reliefs were created by the artist Alexander Colin, based on woodcuts from the "The Triumphal Arch ("Ehrenpforte") by Albrecht Dürer, with four stone bas-reliefs each on the tomb's ends, and eight on its longer sides. They depict events from Maximilian's life as follows:

Marble relief
Marble relief
  • 1 Maximilian's Wedding with Maria of Burgundy 1477
  • 2 The First Battle of Guinegate 1478
  • 3 The Recapture of Arras 1492
  • 4 The Crowning of Maximilian as King of the Romans in Aachen
  • 5 Archduke Sigmund's Victory over the Venetians near Calliano 1487
  • 6 The Liberation of Austria from Hungarian Rule 1490
  • 7 The Capture of Stuhlweissenburg 1490
  • 8 Maximilian's Daughter Margarethe is given back by the French King in 1493
  • 9 The Fight Against the Turks in Croatia 1493
  • 10 The Foundation of the Holy League against France in 1494
  • 11 Maximilian's Wedding with Bianca Maria Sforza in 1494
  • 12 Philip the Fair's Wedding with Juana of Spain in 1496
  • 13 Maximilian's Triumph over the Bohemians near Regensburg in 1504
  • 14 The Siege of Kufstein 1504
  • 15 The Subjugation of the Duke of Guelder 1505
  • 16 Alliance against Venice 1508
  • 17 Victory over Venice in 1509
  • 18 The Return of Duke Massimiliano Sforza to Milan in 1512
  • 19 The Second Battle of Guinegate 1513
  • 20 Maximilian and King Henry VIII of England meet in Thérouanne in 1513
  • 21 The Defeat of the Venetians near Vicenza in 1513
  • 22 The Capture of the Venetian Fortress of Marano
  • 23 The Hungarian Double Wedding in Vienna in 1515
  • 24 The Defense of Verona in 1516

The tomb is enclosed within a fine wrought iron grille created by Jörg Schmidhammer of the Prague court, based on a drawing by the Innsbruck painter Paul Trabel, and capped with statues of the four virtues and kneeling emperor cast in Mühlau from models by Alexander Colin.

[edit] Statues

Duke Leopold III
Duke Leopold III
King Arthur
King Arthur

The cenotaph is surrounded by 28 large bronze statues (200 - 250 cm) of ancestors, relatives and heroes. Their creation took place over between 1502-1555, and occupied a number of artists including the painters Christian Amberger, Albrecht Dürer, Jörg Kölderer, Jörg Polhamer the elder, and Ulrich Tiefenbrunn, and sculptors Hans Leinberger, Leonhart Magt, and Veit Stoß. Three of the statues are based on designs by Dürer. The statues are as follows:

The gallery contains 23 small statues (66 - 69 cm) of the Hapsburg patron saints. They were designed by court painter Jörg Köldere around 1514/15, and carved into wood and then wax by Leonhard Magt. The church also once contained a number of busts of Roman emperors; 20 are now displayed in Schloß Ambras and one is in the Bavarian National Museum in Munich.

[edit] Andreas Hofer tomb

Andreas Hofer tomb
Andreas Hofer tomb

Andreas Hofer, Tirol's national hero, is also buried within the church. Sculptor Johann Nepomuk Schaller made his statue; Josef Klieber created the relief of the "Fahnenschwur" (Swearing on the flag) based on a sketch by Josef Martin Schärmer.

[edit] Footnotes

  1. ^ Hofkirche website
  2. ^ Hofkirche (Court Church), Innsbruck

[edit] References

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