Imst

Imst, Tirol, town in the district of Imst, alt. 827 m, pop. 7,509 (1981: 6,677), area 113.68 km²; principal town of the middle section of the Upper Inn Valley; located on the southwestern slope of the Gurgl Valley, west of Tschirgant Mountain (2,370 m). - District commission, district court, forestry inspectorate, chamber of agriculture, chamber of labour, chamber of commerce, building authority, surveyor´s office, office for housing and hydraulic engineering, district headquarters of rural police, Verdross barracks, federal research institute of forestry, local building authority for avalanche and torrent control, psychological school service, local health and insurance agency, schools: Bundesrealgymnasium secondary school, commercial academy, senior school of engineering, commercial school, school of agriculture, vocational school of commerce; adult education centre; Hauptschule secondary school; first Austrian childrens´ village (founded in 1948); Muslim centre; Capuchin monastery; Imst run-of-river power station (founded in 1956, capacity 81.5 megawatts); Forestry enterprise of the Austrian Federal Forestry Commission. Approximately 65 % of a total of 4,355 employed persons are engaged in the public service sector (1991; particularly in private, social and public services); commerce (e.g. tyre production); haulage firm; manufacturing industry (predominantly building and construction industry; industrial estate in the western part of the town); wood processing (saw mill, manufacturing of plates); metal working and synthetics processing industries; brick works; fabrication of tiles; rubber factory; manufacturing of leatherware and loden coats. Summer tourism (overnight stays 224,232). - First documented mention in 763 ("opido Humiste"); important iron ore mining area in the 15^th and 17^th centuries; fire in 1822; chartered in 1898; consists of Oberstadt (with parish church) and Unterstadt (featuring houses built in late Classicist style); late-Gothic parish church of the Assumption (hall church with nave and two aisles, masterpiece of the stonemasons´ s lodge of Imst); consecrated in 1350 and 1493; altered in the 19^th and 20^th centuries; remains of frescoes (around 1500); stained-glass windows (1889-1912); chapel of St. Michael (1470); interior dating from 1829; wall paintings (1480 and 1956); subsidiary church of St. John (1467 and 1822); Capuchin church (1682, destroyed by fire and rebuilt between 1822 and 1925); Romanesque church of St. Laurence with round apse built on the former site of an early Christian church dating from the 5^th century; Gothic frescoes (1380); 7 Calvary chapels (dating from the 17^th and 18^th centuries); former pilgrimage chapel in Gunglgrün (1732/33); Rofenstein Palace (first documented mention in 1296; façade dating from the 19^th century; at present houses the district commission); the former Ballhaus serves as museum. Carnival Schemenlaufen (takes place every three to four years). Rosengarten Gorge with waterfall. Near Putze waterfall and Lake Starkenberger See.

Literature: E. Egg (ed.), Stadtbuch Imst, 1976; Österreichisches Städtebuch, vol. V, part 1, Die Städte Tirols, 1980; B. Köll, Der Imster Schemenlauf, master´s thesis, Salzburg 1986; P. Baeck, Imster Stadtbuch, 1997.