Ambras Castle

Schloss Ambras stands above Innsbruck on a wooded hill at 632 metres. The castle began as a 10th-century fort of the Counts of Andechs before Archduke Ferdinand II turned it into a Renaissance palace in the 16th century. Ferdinand, son of Emperor Ferdinand I, built the Lower Castle as a museum for his art and armour collections.

The collections remain where he placed them: the Lower Castle armoury shows masterpieces from Maximilian I to Leopold I. The Chamber of Art and Wonders, a Renaissance kunstkammer, holds natural rarities, scientific instruments and princely toys. Above, the Spanish Hall’s 43-metre ceiling carries 27 full-length portraits of Tyrolean rulers.

Visitors walk through the Lower Castle’s vaulted galleries and climb to the Upper Castle’s portrait gallery. The Spanish Hall hosts classical concerts beneath its intricate wood-inlay ceiling. Outside, the ivy-covered carriage ramp and the English-style park frame views across the Inn valley.