Innsbruck (German: [ˈɪnsbʁʊk] ⓘ; Austro-Bavarian: Innschbruck [ˈɪnʃprʊk]) is the capital of Tyrol and the fifth-largest city in Austria.

On the River Inn, at its junction with the Wipp Valley, which provides access to the Brenner Pass 30 km (19 mi) to the south, it had a population of 132,493 in 2018.

In the 4th 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 their province of Raetia.

The ensemble with a cenotaph and the bronze statues of real and mythical ancestors of the Habsburg emperor are one of the main artistic monuments of Innsbruck.

In 1564 Ferdinand II, Archduke of Austria received the rulership over Tyrol and other Further Austrian possessions administered from Innsbruck up to the 18th century.

He had Schloss Ambras built and arranged there his unique Renaissance collections nowadays mainly part of Vienna's Kunsthistorisches Museum.

Also as a compensation for the court as Emperor Leopold I again reigned from Vienna and the Tyrolean stirps of the Habsburg dynasty had ended in 1665.

Andreas Hofer led a Tyrolean peasant army to victory in the Battles of Bergisel against the combined Bavarian and French forces, and then made Innsbruck the centre of his administration.

[6] The Tyrolean hero Andreas Hofer was executed in Mantua; his remains were returned to Innsbruck in 1823 and interred in the Franciscan church.

In May of that year, riots in Vienna made Emperor Ferdinand to move the seat of government temporarily to that city.

On 20 February 1918, Allied planes flying out of Italy raided Innsbruck, causing casualties among the Austrian troops there.

During World War II, Innsbruck was the location of two subcamps of the Dachau concentration camp, including a special camp for prominent people from 16 countries and their families, who were held as hostages, including former Prime Minister of France Léon Blum, former regent of Hungary Miklós Horthy, former Chancellor of Austria Kurt Schuschnigg, Italian general Giuseppe Garibaldi II and a nephew of Winston Churchill.

Winters are often very cold (colder than those of most major European cities) and snowy, although the foehn wind sometimes brings pronounced thaws.

In summer, as expected for an alpine-influenced climate, the diurnal temperature variation is often very high as nights usually remain cool, being 12 °C (54 °F) on average, but sometimes dipping as low as 6 °C (43 °F).

[21] The following are the nine boroughs with the population as of 31 October 2011:[22] The results of the 2018 local elections were: Innsbruck is a very popular tourist destination, organizing the following events every year: In 1971, author Douglas Adams was inspired to write the internationally successful The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy series while lying intoxicated in a field in Innsbruck.

Other ski resorts nearby include Axamer Lizum, Muttereralm, Patscherkofel, Igls, Seefeld, Tulfes and Stubai Valley.

Along with St. Moritz, Switzerland and Lake Placid, New York in the United States, it is one of three places which have twice hosted the Winter Games.

[26] Other notable events held in Innsbruck include the Air & Style Snowboard Contest from 1994 to 1999 and 2008 and the Ice Hockey World Championship in 2005.

Innsbruck hosted an American football final, Eurobowl XXII between the Swarco Raiders Tirol and the Raiffeisen Vikings Vienna.

[28] Irina Windhaber, professor for linguistics at the Universität Innsbruck, has observed a trend among young people to choose more often Standard German language structures and pronunciation.

The headquarters of Swarovski (glass), Felder Group (mechanical engineering) and Swarco (traffic technology) are located within 20 km (12 mi) from the city.

The network is planned to be enlarged during the coming years to reach the neighboring village Rum in the east and Völs in the west.

Because of the unique design of the stations, drafted by the famous architect Zaha Hadid, the funicular evolves immediately to a new emblem of the city.