Imst (;

Southern Bavarian Southern Bavarian or South Bavarian, is a cluster of Upper German dialects of the Bavarian group. They are primarily spoken in Tyrol (i.e. the Austrian federal state of Tyrol and the Italian province of South Tyrol), in Carinthia and in the west ...

: ''Imscht'') is a town in the

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n federal state of

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

. It lies on the River Inn in western Tyrol, some west of Innsbruck and at an altitude of above sea level. With a current population (2013) of 9,552, Imst is the administrative centre of Imst

District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

History

Licensed since 1282 to hold a regular market. Until 1918, the town (named earlier also ''JMST'') was part of the

Austrian monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

(Austria side after the compromise of 1867), head of the district of the same name, one of the 21 ''Bezirkshauptmannschaften'' in the

province. Imst received full town rights in 1898.

Schemenlaufen

Every four years Imst hosts their Fasnacht, or carnival before

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and Luke ...

. This carnival is listed by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. It ...

as one of their Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage. As part of Schemenlaufen pairs of men wear bells, tuned differently, while performing dances of jumps and bows. They are accompanied by masked characters imitating their dance.

Luge track

In 1958, the first artificially refrigerated luge track was completed at Imst.1964 Winter Olympic Games official report.
p. 180. – accessed March 8, 2008 The track was 1000.9 meters long with 17 turns and a vertical drop of 124.8 meters, giving the track an average grade of 12.48%. No turn names were given for the track. It hosted the

FIL World Luge Championships The FIL World Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place on an almost annual basis in non-Winter Olympics years since 1955. These championships are shown for artificial tracks. See FIL World Luge Natural ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

and 1978 and it hosted the

FIL European Luge Championships The FIL European Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place since 1914. From 1914 to 1934, these championships were part of the Internationaler Schlittensportsverband (ISSV - International Sled Sport Federat ...

in 1956, 1971, and 1974.FIL European Luge Championships men's singles results since 1914

SOS Children's Village

In 1949 Hermann Gmeiner founded the first SOS Children's Village in the Sonnberg district of Imst. The ''SOS-Kinderdörfer'' organization now runs over 450 such villages worldwide.

Climate

Sons and daughters of the town

* Theodor von Hörmann (1840–1895), landscape painter * Friedrich Heinrich Suso Denifle (1844–1905), church historian, Dominican, professor in Graz *

Alfons Gorbach Alfons Gorbach (2 September 1898 – 31 July 1972) was an Austrian politician of the conservative People's Party (ÖVP). He served as Chancellor of Austria from 1961 to 1964. Life Born in Imst, Tyrol, Gorbach served in the Austro-Hungarian Arm ...

(1898–1972), politician (ÖVP), Federal Chancellor of Austria from 1961 to 1964

Notes and references

Official Imst town council website
(in German)
Website of SOS-Kinderdorf international

External links

{{Authority control Bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton tracks Sports venues in Austria Lechtal Alps Cities and towns in Imst District Populated places on the Inn (river) Mieming Range