Tyrol is dominated by high mountain ranges, including theÖtztal Alps, theZillertal Alps, and theKitzbühel Alps, with theGrossglockner and other major Alpine peaks nearby. The region is traversed by important rivers such as theInn and theIsel, and is noted for its valleys, glaciers, and alpine passes. Its strategic location has historically made Tyrol a key transit region between northern and southern Europe, with theBrenner Pass serving as one of the most important north–south routes across the Alps since Roman times.
Historically, Tyrol formed part of theCounty of Tyrol, which emerged as a distinct territorial entity of theHoly Roman Empire in theLate Middle Ages. It passed to theHabsburg dynasty in the 14th century, becoming an integral part of the Habsburg Monarchy. Following the end ofWorld War I and the dissolution ofAustria-Hungary, Tyrol was divided: South Tyrol and Trentino were ceded to Italy under theTreaty of Saint-Germain in 1919, leavingNorth andEast Tyrol within the newly founded Republic of Austria. This division remains a defining feature of the region’s political geography and cultural identity.
Today, Tyrol is known for its strong alpine traditions, vibrant tourism industry, and role as one of Austria’s most popular destinations for skiing, mountaineering, and hiking. The state combines modern infrastructure with a strong preservation of local culture, evident in its folk music, festivals, and architectural heritage. Tyrol also plays an important role in Austria’s economy, with tourism, winter sports, and alpine agriculture complemented by modern industries and universities centered in Innsbruck.
Tyrol is separated into two parts, divided by a 7-kilometre-wide (4.3 mi) strip ofSalzburg State. The two constituent parts of Tyrol are the northern and largerNorth Tyrol (Nordtirol) and the southeastern and smallerEast Tyrol (Osttirol). Salzburg State lies to the east of North Tyrol, while on the south Tyrol has a border to theItalian province ofSouth Tyrol, which was part of theAustro-Hungarian Empire before theFirst World War. With a land area of 12,683.85 km2 (4,897.26 sq mi), Tyrol is the third-largest federal state in Austria.
North Tyrol shares its borders with the federal states Salzburg in the east andVorarlberg in the west. In the north, it adjoins theGerman state ofBavaria; in the south, it shares borders with theItalian province ofSouth Tyrol and theSwisscanton ofGraubünden. East Tyrol shares its borders with the Austrian state ofCarinthia to the east and Italy'sProvince of Belluno (Veneto) to the south.
The state's territory is located entirely within theEastern Alps at theBrenner Pass. The highest mountain in the state is theGroßglockner, part of theHohe Tauern range on the border with Carinthia. It has a height of 3,797 m (12,457.35 ft), making it the highest mountain in Austria.
When the Counts of Tyrol died out in 1253, their estates were inherited by theMeinhardiner Counts ofGörz. In 1271, the Tyrolean possessions were divided between CountMeinhard II of Görz and his younger brotherAlbert I, who took the lands of East Tyrol around Lienz and attached them (as "outer county") to his committal possessions aroundGorizia ("inner county").
The last Tyrolean countess of the Meinhardiner Dynasty,Margaret, bequeathed her assets to theHabsburg dukeRudolph IV of Austria in 1363. In 1420, the committal residence was relocated fromMeran (Merano) to Innsbruck. The Tyrolean lands were reunited when the Habsburgs inherited the estates of the extinct Counts of Görz in 1500.
Tyrol was aCisleithanianKronland (royal territory) ofAustria-Hungary from 1867. The County of Tyrol then extended beyond the boundaries of today's federal state, including North Tyrol and East Tyrol; South Tyrol andTrentino (Welschtirol) as well as three municipalities, which today are part of the adjacent province of Belluno. AfterWorld War I, these lands became part of theKingdom of Italy according to the 1915London Pact and the provisions of theTreaty of Saint Germain. From November 1918, it was occupied by 20,000–22,000 soldiers of the Italian Army.[5]
Heinrich Maier, Walter Caldonazzi and their group helped the allies to fight the V-2, which was produced byconcentration camp prisoners.
Tyrol was the center of an important resistance group against Nazi Germany around Walter Caldonazzi, which united with the group around the priestHeinrich Maier and the Tyrolean Franz Josef Messner. The Catholic resistance group very successfully passed on plans and production facilities forV-1 rockets,V-2 rockets,Tiger tanks,Messerschmitt Me 163 Komet and other aircraft to the Allies, with which they could target German production facilities. Maier and his group informed the American secret service OSS very early on about the mass murder of Jews inAuschwitz. For after the war they planned an Austria united with South Tyrol and Bavaria.[6]
AfterWorld War II, North Tyrol was governed byFrance and East Tyrol was part of the British Zone of occupation untilAustria regained independence in 1955.
The capital, Innsbruck, is known for its university, and especially for its medicine. Tyrol is popular for its famousski resorts, which includeKitzbühel,Ischgl andSt. Anton. The 15 largest towns in Tyrol are:
The federal state'sgross domestic product (GDP) was 34.6 billion euro in 2018, accounting for 9% of Austria's economic output. GDP per capita adjusted for purchasing power was 40,900 euro or 136% of the EU27 average in the same year.[8]
Tyrol has long been a central hub for European long-distance routes and thus a transit land for trans-European trade over the Alps. As early as the 1st century B.C. Tyrol had one of the most important north–south links of theRoman Empire, theVia Claudia Augusta. Roman roads crossed the Tyrol from the Po Plain in present-day Italy, following the course of the Etsch and Eisack in present South Tyrol over the Brenner and then following the northernWipp valley to Hall. From there roads branched along theRiver Inn. TheVia Raetia went westwards and up onto theSeefeld Plateau, where it crossed intoBavaria where Scharnitz is today. ThePorta Claudia, built in the early 17th century is a fortification that underlines the importance of the road in the Early Modern Period.
The federal state is divided into ninedistricts (Bezirke); one of them, Innsbruck, is astatutory city. There are 277 municipalities. The districts and their administrative centres, from west to east and north to south, are:
Traditional long-skirteddirndls fromLienz in Tyrol
The traditional form ofmural art known asLüftlmalerei is typical of Tyrolean villages and towns.
Kletzenbrot is asweet bread made with dried fruits and nuts for theAdvent season. Because it is associated with Tyrol it is also known as "Tyrolean Dried Fruit Bread".
Tyrol also has a strong history of folk theater, which has influenced the culture since the late Middle Ages and well into the 19th century.[9] Today in Tyrol, particularly in Innsbruck, there are folk theatre summer festivals and evening shows catering to traditional Tyrolean theatre, music, and dancing.
The question of which regional unit was the bearer of primary identification was raised in the 1987 Austrian Consciousness Survey. The possible answers were: the hometown (local patriotism), one's own province (regional patriotism), (Central) Europe (European consciousness), the world (cosmopolitanism).[10]
Emotional connectedness according to territorial units (1987)
in:
Vienna
Lower Austria
Burgenland
Tyrol
Carinthia
Vorarlberg
Styria
Upper Austria
Salzburg
Homeplace
38
30
31
16
23
21
25
35
24
Bundesland
8
16
24
58
53
44
39
23
33
Austrian
46
55
44
19
24
28
32
37
35
German
1
0
-
1
-
-
2
1
2
(Middle-)European
4
1
-
1
-
4
2
1
4
World Citizen
4
-
1
2
-
3
1
2
-
other
2
0
-
-
1
-
0
0
3
A research project led by Peter Diem[11] offers a thoroughly comparable picture: In Vienna and Lower Austria, Austria patriotism dominated (1988) over territorial consciousness.[clarification needed] In Upper Austria, Salzburg and Styria, national patriotism slightly outweighed federal state patriotism.[clarification needed] In Carinthia, Tyrol and Vorarlberg, national patriotism clearly dominated. When asked to rate their own national patriotism on a ten-point scale, 83% of Carinthians, 69% of Tyroleans, 63% of Vorarlbergers, Burgenlanders and Styrians, 59% of Upper Austrians, 55% of Lower Austrians, 47% of Viennese and 43% of Salzburgers gave it the highest value.
The results of this study underline the assumption of a highly developed sense of national identity in most Austrian provinces. Peculiarly, the federal provinces are also largely "endogamous" in relation to other provinces, i.e. they correspond to what ethnologists would call a gentile association, a "tribe".
It is therefore also permissible to identify the inhabitants of the Austrian provinces as the "tribes" that a book published in London would like to portray.[12]
The first thirteen of theChalet School series of books byElinor Brent-Dyer, and part of the fourteenth,The Chalet School in Exile (1940), are set in Tyrol, onPertisau on Lake Achen.[13] Brent-Dyer had visited the Tyrol in the 1920s.[14] Nancy G. Rosoff and Stephanie Spencer have written that Brent-Dyer "used the setting of her fictional school in the Austrian Tyrol to give her readers some hard lessons about Nazi persecution".[15]
^Elisabeth Boeckl-Klamper, Thomas Mang, Wolfgang Neugebauer:Gestapo-Leitstelle Wien 1938–1945. Vienna 2018,ISBN978-3902494832, pp. 299–305; Hans Schafranek:Widerstand und Verrat: Gestapospitzel im antifaschistischen Untergrund. Vienna 2017,ISBN978-3707606225, pp. 161–248; Christoph Thurner "The CASSIA Spy Ring in World War II Austria: A History of the OSS's Maier-Messner Group" (2017), p. 35.
^Bernhart, Toni. “Imagining the Audience in Eighteenth-Century Folk Theatre in Tyrol.” InDramatic Experience: The Poetics of Drama and the Early Modern Public Sphere(s), edited by Katja Gvozdeva, Tatiana Korneeva, and Kirill Ospovat, 269–88. Brill, 2017. http://www.jstor.org/stable/10.1163/j.ctt1w76w7w.16.
^Österreichbewußtsein im Wandel, Ernst Bruckmüller, 1994
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