Medieval power
Trento's Duomo is a superb example of the power and sobriety of the Lombard Romanesque style, evident in the crenellated silhouette of the bell tower. This sense of purity is echoed in the church at Zell am See, which impresses with the calm that emanates from its harmonious volumes. This sobriety was then replaced by a Gothic style combining mystical and heraldic motifs in frescoes, paintings and wood carvings of superb polychromy. Cross-ribbed or star-shaped vaults, stylized portal and window frames and raised ornamentation also characterize this Tyrolean Gothic style. The parish church in Kötschach, with its nave vault featuring graceful lines evoking floral motifs; the church of St. Andreas in Laas, with its ribbed vaulting of the main nave that evolves into a star-shaped nave at choir level; the parish church of Rattenberg, with its superb pink marble blockwork and stylized capitals; or the parish church of Schwaz, with its ogival-vaulted cloister galleries, are among the masterpieces of this Gothic style. You'll notice that the number of naves in Tyrolean churches is always even... with the exception of the Franciscan church in Schwaz, which, with its three naves, is a rigorous interpretation of the building rules imposed by the religious order.
Bruck Castle preserves some fine examples of its medieval origins, notably the Knights' Hall with its beam-and-joist ceiling still bearing the mark of superb polychrome decoration. The fortress of Berneck, with its corbelled Gothic portal, and the castle of Landeck, both located on the old Roman road, also bear witness to this defensive effervescence. In the Italian Tyrol, don't miss the legendary Castello del Buonconsiglio in Trento, including the 13th-century Castel Vecchio; the powerful crenellated silhouette of Castelbello Castle; or Brunico Castle. In the shadow of these fortresses and surrounding walls lie charming medieval towns with narrow streets, flights of stairs and vaulted passageways leading to squares that are the center of the city. Of all the towns in Tyrol, Hall in Tyrol is probably the one that has best preserved this town-planning style. Take a look at its division into upper and lower town, each with its own large square lined with pretty, emblazoned arcaded houses. The town also boasts a fine example of civil Gothic: its crenellated town hall. But the finest representative of this civil Gothic style is to be seen in Innsbruck. It's the Petit Toit d'Or, a superb oriel (closed balcony) serving as a lodge of honor. With its roof covered in thousands of gold-plated copper shingles and its frescoes and bas-reliefs depicting Maximilian I, it's hard to miss!
Renaissance and Baroque Splendors
After the splendors of the Gothic period, Maximilian I brought a new wind to Tyrol: the Renaissance, with its strong Italian influences. The great palaces were covered with elegant painted or embossed facades and organized around large, harmonious arcaded courtyards, while their interiors were adorned with sumptuous coffered ceilings, frescoes and magnificent marquetry work. Known as the "painted city", Trento is famous for its colorful palaces with elegant geminated windows. In Rattenberg, the houses impress with their tall, colorful facades, adorned with stucco elements and marble frames. Behind their horizontal lintels, you'll notice that they house roofs with several ridges perpendicular to the street. These "ditched" roofs were designed to reduce the risk of fire. In Innsbruck, the Imperial Church, with its marquetry choir loft known as the "Choir of the Princes", is home to one of the most beautiful and famous examples of the Tyrolean Renaissance: the mausoleum of Maximilian I, whose grandiose plans were conceived by the Emperor himself. The white marble cenotaph, encircled by a magnificent ornate grille, is surrounded by 4 allegorical bronze figures, a kneeling statue of Maximilian, 28 bronze statues (40 were originally planned!) nicknamed the "Black Men", and 24 bas-reliefs. Castles became palaces, like Tratzberg Castle, with its illuminated facades, arcaded courtyards, frescoed halls and ceilings featuring astonishing wood assemblages made without a single nail! Ambras Castle in Innsbruck is another magnificent example of the Renaissance revival. Gone are the massive medieval trappings, replaced by refined decor, as in the Spanish Room, adorned with stucco and grotesques, a coffered ceiling, inlaid doors and elegant frescoes. The fortress of Kufstein shows how military architecture adapted to developments in artillery: bastions and casemates were structural innovations. The harmonious Renaissance then gave way to the abundant Baroque. The art of staging par excellence, Baroque was accompanied by a profusion of stucco, gilding and other ornaments in the most varied forms, creating astonishing movements. The Karlskirche in Volders is Tyrol's first major Baroque church. See its astonishing cloverleaf plan, 6 domes and bulbous bell towers adorned with turrets. Wilten boasts two Baroque masterpieces: the abbey church, with its façade of orange plaster curving up to a portal flanked by two painted wooden giants, and its interior populated by black altarpieces embellished with gold and grilles with elegant vegetal decorations; and the basilica, whose interior decor is adorned with pink and white, both embellished with gold, and stuccoed foliage and flowers.Stams Abbey has lost its original Cistercian sobriety to frescoes and gilding, to which two bulbous towers have also been added. The "baroqueization" of medieval buildings is a very common phenomenon, as evidenced by Innsbruck's St. James Cathedral, with its concave facade framed by two towers and its monumental dome. See also the paintings on its lantern dome, whose perspective effects give an astonishing impression of height. But Baroque is not just religious; it also transforms houses and palaces. The Imperial Palace in Innsbruck is the finest example. Its long façade, framed by domed towers, and its richly decorated halls, including the Hall of the Giants with its bright, porcelain-like stucco panels, bear the mark of this abundant Baroque... As does the Maison Helbling, with its stylized frames and windows set in astonishing convex eaves, an ingenious way of capturing the maximum amount of light in a narrow street with very little sunlight!
From the 19th century to modernism
Many luxury hotels line the Grande Route des Dolomites, an engineering masterpiece built between 1895 and 1909 to link Bolzano to Cortina. Very much in vogue at the time, historicist eclecticism and the Belle Époque style, drawing on the sources of ancient, Gothic and Renaissance styles, adorned the facades of all these new champions of tourism. In Merano, the town's flagship building, the Kurhaus or bathhouse, adds a new touch to all these neo styles: that of Art Nouveau, known as Liberty in Italy. It blends classical colonnades and pediments with floral decorations and elegant skylights and domes. In the early 1930s, the pretty town of Bolzano caught the eye of the Duce, who wanted to make it an example of Fascist architecture and town planning. Baroque lines were replaced by a monumental style, with colonnades and porticoes, a return to the codes of antiquity. The Monumento alla Vittoria and the Palace del Tribunale are two examples of this architectural fascism.
The 1930s also saw the construction of the Großglockner Route des Hautes-Alpes. 870,000m3 of earth and stone were moved, 115,750m3 of masonry built, 67 bridges constructed... impressive figures for a road that stretches over 48 km and 36 bends, and blends perfectly into the landscape thanks to the use of traditional stone. The Tyrol then opened up to modernism under the impetus of two great local architects: Clemens Holzmeister and Lois Welzenbacher. Holzmeister became famous for his monumental style, which drew on local traditions and oscillated between simplicity and expressiveness. His major achievements include the astonishing Passionsspielhaus in Erl, a kind of concrete comma on stilts, and the chapel in the Lienz cemetery in honor of the veterans of the Great War. The latter was responsible for buildings in the emerging international style, combining functionality and rationality, such as the angular white tower at Hall in Tyrol, or the buildings surrounding the Innsbruck railway station. In fact, Lois Welzenbacher was the only Austrian architect to be invited to the "International Style" exhibition held in New York in 1932! In the 1950s, Tyrol was transformed once again, this time by engineering giants such as the Pont de l'Europe, which required the production of no less than 70,000m3 of concrete and 3,150 tons of asphalt, and the dams and reservoirs created in the Kaprun valley.
Contemporary effervescence
Let's start in Innsbruck. The Kaufhaus Tyrol, a large shopping center designed by David Chipperfield, is an elegant structure with a glass and concrete façade coated with a mixture of cement and white marble. Dominique Perrault and Daniel Buren have completely refurbished the town hall with light, airy glass structures. Stoll Wagner designed the Tyrol Panorama, an elongated building that shines like a diamond and forms a delicate link with the Musée Historique des Chasseurs Impériaux. A successful dialogue with the past can also be found at the tourist office, which occupies the former imperial stables, where the three-aisled gallery and Renaissance vaults interact with sleek contemporary volumes. The Maison de la Musique is also worth a visit, with its large bay windows animated by mobile ceramic blades. Not far from the center, we discover the work of Zaha Hadid. She was responsible for the Bergisel Tremplin, an astonishing hybrid installation, part ski ramp, part restaurant and part panoramic platform, with a curving white structure. Zaha Hadid also redesigned the Hungerburg cable car stations, in particular the Seegrube station, whose shapes and whiteness are directly inspired by the surrounding snow-capped mountains. In the Italian Tyrol, the architect is responsible for another architectural feat: the Messner Mountain Museum in Plan de Corones, whose structure is literally nestled in the rock so as not to disrupt the harmony of the landscape. The high mountains are a breeding ground for experimentation and daring. The platforms are spectacular, like the Stubaier Gletscher, a metal and wood structure suspended above the Stubai glacier, or the steel, glass and larch wood pavilion designed by Peter Schluck on the Hochgurgl estate. Cable car lines and stations are not to be outdone. Just look at the organic sculptures covered in curved aluminium panels at the Wildspitzbahn stations, or the steel constructions covered in a transparent membrane at the Gaislachkogelbahn. The latter were designed by Tyrolean architect Johann Obermoser, who is also responsible for the astonishing Ice Q Restaurant, whose glass structure resembles blocks of ice. The elegant Congress Park in Igls, imagined as a transparent climatic space, the Festival House in Erl, inspired by the surrounding mountains, not to mention the incredible Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Rovereto, designed by Mario Botta as a "pantheon without a facade", its 3 floors organized around a large agora topped by a glass dome: these are just a few more superb examples of the contemporary effervescence that continues to transform Tyrol!
Vernacular riches
At very high altitudes, buildings are almost always made of stone, but in the greener alpine pastures, a surprising architecture unfolds: that of wooden farmhouses and chalets. Solidly anchored on a stone base to reinforce the house's insulation, these rustic houses can be recognized by their sloping roofs, the overhang of which protects the facade decorated with beautiful paintings and adorned with oriel windows and wooden galleries. Lambrequins and friezes chiselled like lace add to this unique decorative art, which is also found in panelled interiors, where furniture is painted in bright colors and decorated with stencilled motifs (flowers, stars, hearts). Spruce, larch, fir, ash, hazel...: the most diverse species are used according to their properties to achieve a unique refinement in the carving and marquetry. The bell tower on the front of the house is there to punctuate daily life. The most beautiful village in which to discover this architecture and these chalets is undoubtedly Alpbach. You can also visit a number of eco-museums. Among the most famous: the Tyrolean Farm Museum in Rattenberg, the Ötztal Regional Museum and Ecomuseum and, of course, the Tyrolean Museum of Folk Art and Traditions in Innsbruck. In Trentino-Alto Adige, you're more likely to see large, white, masonry farmhouses with 1 or 2 storeys and a wooden gable roof. The first floor is for livestock, the1st floor for living quarters and the attic for hay storage. The facades often feature wooden staircases and balconies. From the second half of the twentieth century onwards, this vernacular architecture became fashionable again, with ski resorts using and abusing the chalet model for their hotels, while resolutely modern chalets blending the rusticity of wood with ever more original shapes, all the while advocating simplicity and durability!
