Innsbruck

Innsbruck is the capital city of the federal state of Tyrol in western Austria. It is located in the Inn Valley at the junction with the Wipptal (Sill River), which provides access to the Brenner Pass, some 30 km south of Innsbruck. Located in the broad valley between high mountains, the Nordkette (Hafelekar, 2,334 m) in the north, Patscherkofel (2,246 m) and Serles (2,718 m) in the south, it is an internationally renowned winter sports centre, and hosted the 1964 and 1976 Winter Olympics.

Earliest traces suggest initial inhabitation in the early Stone Age. Surviving pre-Roman place names show that the area has been populated continuously. In the fourth century the Romans established the army station Veldidena (the name survives in today's urban district Wilten) at Oenipons (Innsbruck), to protect the economically important commercial road from Verona-Brenner-Augsburg.

In 1938 Austria was annexed by Nazi Germany in the Anschluss. Between 1943 and April 1945, Innsbruck experienced twenty-one bomb attacks and suffered heavy damage. The KZ Innsbruck-Reichenau concentration camp was located here.

In 1929, the first official Austrian Chess Championship was held in Innsbruck. The winners were Erich Eliskases and Eduard Glass.

Due to its altitude and position in Central Europe, far from the coast, Innsbruck has an hemiboreal climate. Winter is cold - colder than those of most major European cities -, and snowy. Winter nights can get frigid, occasionally dropping to -12°C.

Spring is brief; days start to get warm, often over 15°C, but nights remain cool or even freezing.

Summer is highly variable and unpredictable. Days can be cool (17°C) and rainy, or sunny and extremely hot, sometimes hitting 34°C. In summer, as expected from an alpine climate, the diurnal temperature variation is often very high as nights always remain cool (12°C on average, but sometimes dipping as low as 6°C).

The average annual temperature is 9°C.

As a very popular tourist destination, Innsbruck organizes the following events every year:

Vierschanzentournee (Four Hills Tournament)
Innsbrucker tanzsommer
Bergsilvester (New Years Eve)
Festwochen der Alten Musik (Weeks of Classic Music)
Christkindlmarkt (Christmas fair)

Tourism is the most important source of income for the city authority, largely because of Innsbruck's beautiful town centre with its historic buildings, the friendly ambience and the extensive sport facilities both in winter and in summer.

Innsbruck is home to the oldest grammar school (Gymnasium) in western Austria, the "Akademisches Gymnasium Innsbruck". The school was founded in 1562 by the Jesuit order and was the precursor of the university, founded in 1669.

Innsbruck hosts several universities. The most well-known are the University of Innsbruck (Leopold-Franzens-Universität), the Innsbruck Medical University, and the Management Center Innsbruck (MCI).

Country : Austria
State : Tyrol
District : Statutory city
Area :104.91 km² (40.5 sq mi)
Elevation : 574 m (1883 ft)
Population : 117,916 (01/01/2007)
Density : 1,124 /km² (2,911 /sq mi)