Imst

Imst

Coat of arms
Imst
Location within Austria
Location in the district

Coordinates: 47°14′22″N 10°44′17″E / 47.23944°N 10.73806°E / 47.23944; 10.73806Coordinates: 47°14′22″N 10°44′17″E / 47.23944°N 10.73806°E / 47.23944; 10.73806
Country Austria
State Tyrol
District Imst
Government
 • Mayor Stefan Weirather
Area
 • Total 113.4 km2 (43.8 sq mi)
Elevation 827 m (2,713 ft)
Population (1 January 2016)[1]
 • Total 10,109
 • Density 89/km2 (230/sq mi)
Time zone UTC+1 (CET)
 • Summer (DST) UTC+2 (CEST)
Postal code 6460
Area code 05412
Vehicle registration IM
Website www.imst.tirol.gv.at
Imst seen from the Vordere Platteinspitze (2565 m)

Imst is a town in the Austrian federal state of Tyrol. It lies on the River Inn in western Tyrol, some 50 kilometres (31 miles) west of Innsbruck and at an altitude of 828 metres (2,717 feet) above sea level. With a current population (2013) of 9,552, Imst is the administrative centre of Imst District.

History

Licensed since 1282 to hold a regular market. Until 1918, the town (named earlier also JMST) was part of the Austrian monarchy (Austria side after the compromise of 1867), head of the district of the same name, one of the 21 Bezirkshauptmannschaften in the Tyrol province.[2]

Imst received full town rights in 1898.[3]

Schemenlaufen

Every four years Imst hosts their Fasnacht, or carnival before Lent.[4] This carnival is listed by UNESCO as one of their Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage.[4] 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.[4]

Luge track

In 1958, the first artificially refrigerated track was completed at Imst.[5] 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%.[5] No turn names were given for the track.

It hosted the FIL World Luge Championships in 1963 and 1978[6] and it hosted the FIL European Luge Championships in 1956, 1971, and 1974.[7]

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.

Sons and daughters of the town

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Statistik Austria - Bevölkerung zu Jahresbeginn 2002-2016 nach Gemeinden (Gebietsstand 1.1.2016) for Imst.
  2. ↑ Die postalischen Abstempelungen auf den österreichischen Postwertzeichen-Ausgaben 1867, 1883 und 1890, Wilhelm KLEIN, 1967
  3. ↑ So late? Reference appreciated.
  4. 1 2 3 "Schemenlaufen". UNESCO. Retrieved 2017-10-11.
  5. 1 2 1964 Winter Olympic Games official report. Archived 2012-02-07 at the Wayback Machine. p. 180. (in German) - accessed March 8, 2008
  6. ↑ FIL World Luge Championships men's single results since 1955 Archived 2007-12-18 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ FIL European Luge Championships men's singles results since 1914 Archived 2006-11-15 at the Wayback Machine.
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