Die Inschriften des Bundeslandes Tirol, Teil 1

Although inscriptions form a very significant part of our written sources, systematic research on this important historical heritage of the Middle Ages and the Early Modern Period has begun only recently. In Austria, the approaches of the renowned edition project "Die Deutschen Inschriften" have so far only focussed on the east of the country. The present edition broadens this restricted view presenting for the first time a systematic survey of Tyrolean inscriptions. The inscriptions of the three districts Imst, Landeck and Reutte document a completely different situation than in the eastern parts of Austria, since the inscriptions made for the memory of the dead do not form the centre of this collection. The main focus of Tyrolean epicraphics lies on painted inscriptions which comprise a third of the corpus here presented. These inscriptions form part of the rich decorations of baroque façades and the countless wall paintings of Tyrolean gothic churches. Therefore, this volume provides a major contribution not only to historic research, but to art history as well. Moreover, this edition makes accessible a huge quantity of grave markers, bells, liturgical artefacts and graffiti, too. Not infrequently, the latter document personal piety and the modes of travelling through this part of Tyrol in the Early Modern Period. This volume deals with several important regional centres of pilgrimage, such as St. Georgen ob Tösens, Kaltenbrunn and Obsaurs. It presents a region formed by the main premodern lines of communication between Italy and southern Germany, including the cities of Imst and Landeck with their rich epigraphic heritage as the foremost examples. A main part of the volume is dedicated to the inscriptions of the burial place of the Tyrolean princes, the Cistercian abbey of Stams, which are of European importance.