Old Innsbruck Observatory

The Oppolzersche Sternwarte stands in the Botanical Garden of Innsbruck, a quiet green space in the Hötting district. Built in 1904 by Egon von Oppolzer as a private observatory, it later became part of the University of Innsbruck. Oppolzer funded the project himself, selling paintings to pay for the 40 cm reflecting telescope supplied by the Austrian Academy of Sciences. After his early death in 1907, the state bought the observatory and turned it into a university facility. From the 1950s it was used for teaching until the institute moved to a new campus in the 1980s.

The observatory is a two-storey building with a meridian room and an eastern dome. Its lightweight construction of reinforced concrete, corrugated iron and glass allowed quick temperature changes to protect the instruments. Oppolzer’s personal rooms and library were in a nearby villa. Inside, a Zeiss mirror telescope from 1905 and a meridian circle remain preserved, along with a blink comparator. The building is now a listed monument and houses the Historic Observatory Museum after a 2014 renovation.

Visitors find the original meridian circle and zenith telescope designed by Oppolzer himself. The dome still holds the 40 cm Zeiss reflector, known as the Academy Reflector. A free-standing Coudé dome in the garden was restored in 2024 and now contains a 15 cm refractor used for teaching. The surrounding Botanical Garden offers a peaceful setting for this historic site, where astronomy’s past meets the university’s present research.