Westfriedhof

The Westfriedhof in Innsbruck is a municipal cemetery covering 4.8 hectares in the Wilten district. Built in 1856 and enlarged in 1889, it serves as one of the city’s two main burial grounds alongside the Ostfriedhof. The layout follows a symmetrical plan with two nearly equal quadrants divided into graveyards labelled A to R and 1 to 16. The northern section is enclosed by arcades containing 150 graves, decorated with a fresco cycle in the Nazarene style by Franz Plattner and others. The cemetery holds historical significance beyond burials. In 1864 it incorporated a Jewish section after repeated desecrations of the earlier Jewish cemetery at Judenbühel. A memorial to Jewish soldiers from the First World War stands near the northern arcades, and a 1925 monument honours six fallen Innsbruck Jews. The chapel, rebuilt in 1927, features interior paintings depicting the Apocalypse and the Last Judgement, considered a key work of Nazarene art in the region. Visitors walk along broad avenues lined with crucifixes and kiosk-like graves. The central chapel with its pyramid roof and mosaic interiors forms the focal point between the two halves. A separate urn cemetery lies west of the chapel, enclosed by arcades and marked by wall niches and stone blocks. The southern edge holds the Jewish cemetery, separated by a wall and containing memorials to Shoah victims and soldiers.