Jesuitenkirche Innsbruck

The Jesuitenkirche stands near the Old University in Innsbruck’s eastern Altstadt. Built between 1627 and 1646 by Karl Fontaner and Christoph Gumpp the Younger, it replaced earlier buildings and is recognised as an early Baroque work in the city. The façade, completed in 1901, features two towers rising above four vertical sections, each storey distinguished by different pilaster styles. Inside, a short nave leads to a domed crossing, shallow transepts and a rounded apse, all framed by white walls and reddish-brown marble pilasters. The church holds the relics of Saint Pirminius, brought from Speyer in 1575 by Count Schweikhard von Helfenstein. Eleven Habsburg tombs, including those of Archduke Leopold V and his wife Claudia de’ Medici, line the walls. The high altar, destroyed in 1943, was rebuilt in 2004 to its original 18th-century design. A 1959 Walcker organ with 34 stops and a set of bells ranging from the historic Silberne Glocke to recent additions continue to shape its sound. Visitors enter beneath a wrought-iron screen from 1667 and find a bright interior divided into three levels: ground-floor chapels, low galleries and clerestory windows. The dome rises on an octagonal drum with a walkway on brackets, while the apse contains balconies supported by angel corbels. Outside, the twin towers frame a gable bearing the Trinity, and the church’s south-facing orientation keeps the interior cool. The surrounding streets lead back to the Old University and the heart of the Altstadt.