Page 250 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Austria

248  A USTRIA REGION B Y REGION

of the church interior by a
wrought-iron grille. It houses a
collection of reliquaries.

4 Wattens
Road map C4. * 7,700. £ @ n
(05224) 455 440. ∑ hall-wattens.at
At the Swarovski factory and
museum of decorative glass
and glass jewellery in Wattens
you can see the world’s largest
cut crystal (300,000 carats), and
an impressive crystal wall 11 m
(36 ft) high, with several tons of
glittering semiprecious stones.
The emblematic Mint Tower of Burg Hasegg in Hall in Tirol E Swarovski Crystal Worlds
Kristallweltenstrasse 1. Tel (05224)
2 Igls 3 Hall in Tirol 51080. Open 9am–6pm. &
∑ kristallwelten.swarovski.com
Road map B4. * 2,000. @ Road map B4. * 13,000. £ @
n Hilberstrasse 15, (0512) 377101. n Wallpachgasse 5, (05223) 455440.
∑ hall-wattens.at Environs
This small town south of Volders has an unusual church
Innsbruck, which had long been Hall ranks mostly as a holiday devoted to St Charles Borromeo,
popular as a holiday centre and resort, but the Old Town, with dating from 1620–54, considered
winter-sports resort, was given much of its original architecture a Rococo masterpiece.
a new face for the 1976 Winter intact, bears testimony to the
Olympic Games when modern town’s former glory. The symbol
toboggan and bobsleigh of Hall is the twelve-sided tower
runs were built. The nearby known as the Mint Tower, or
Patscherkofel (2,247 m/7,372 ft) Burg Hasegg. This castle, with its
is a popular destination for beautiful inner courtyard, once
winter skiing expeditions formed a corner section
and summer rambles. It is served of the town’s fortifications.
by a funi cular, a chairlift and It was the seat of the Tyrolean
five T-bars. An old salt track, rulers and, in the 16th century,
Römerstrasse, runs above the it became the mint. Today the
Sill valley, provid ing views of the castle houses the town museum.
famous Europabrücke (Europe In the Old Town, the Town Hall
Bridge; see p256), which spans with its steep Gothic roof consists
the Alpine gorges and is part of of two parts: the 1406 Königshaus
the busy motor way (Royal House) with a
network connecting beautiful debating
northern Europe hall with an The entrance to Swarovski Crystal Worlds
with Italy. exposed-beam in Wattens
The Aegidius- ceiling; and a large
kirche in Igls, the building on the south
church of St Giles, side of Oberer 5 Schwaz
probably dates Stadtplatz, with a Road map C4. * 13,000. £ @ n
back to the 13th Renaissance portal and Münchnerstrasse 11, (05242) 63240.
century but was a balcony from which ∑ silberregion-karwendel.com
remodelled in the Coat of arms of Hall the town fathers used
Baroque period. It has in Tirol to make their proclama- During the 16th century, this
beautiful vault frescoes tions. The 14th-cen tury busy commercial town in the
by Josef Michael Schmitzer. Nikolauskirche, the church of Inn river valley was the second
Near Igls is the interesting St Nicholas, nearby, has a lovely largest in Tyrol. Schwaz
pilgrimage chapel Heiligwasser portal featuring the Sorrowful suffered extensive damage
(1662), with attractive stucco- Christ, the Virgin Mary and during the battle of 1809, but
work created in 1720 as well as St Nicholas, and an attractive it has preserved some lovely
a wooden statue of the Virgin Baroque interior. Particularly worth historic sights. The most impres-
Mary dating back to the early seeing is the Waldaufkapelle, sive of these is the 15th-century
15th century. which is closed off from the rest Pfarrkirche, with its high
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp298–9 and pp323–4

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Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.1)
Date 5th December 2012
Size 125mm x 217mm