Zirl

Zirl, Tyrol, market town in the district of Innsbruck-Land, alt. 622 m, pop. 5,037, area 57.24 km², situated in the Inn Valley, west of Innsbruck; most famous Christmas crib village (Baroque cribs, turn of 18^th /19^th  centuries). - Provincial hospital, road and highway maintenance depot, Martinsbühel Monastery, TIWAG (short for "Tiroler Wasserkraftwerke AG", the Tyrolean Water Power Utility) branch office, Zirl transformer station; diversified economic structure, 1,639 people employed (1991): personal, social and public services (hospital), trade, building industry, commercial stone-crushing plant with hydraulic limestone production, soap and detergent factory, liquor factory with herbal distillery, recycling enterprises (plastics, paper); tourism (38,944 overnight stays in 1992, mainly in summer) and wine growing. - On Martinsbühel, settlements since the La Tène period, Teriolis Roman military post in the 4^th /5^th centuries; St. Martinsberg Castle (documented mention 1290, enlarged to a hunting seat under Emperor Maximilian I around 1500), St. Martin Chapel with late Gothic choir (built as a one-aisled church incorporating an antique building, 6^th century); documented mention of Zirl in 799, largely destroyed by fire in 1908; early historicist parish church (1847/48), Nazarene wall and vault paintings (1860-1874); Calvary (erected from 1771 on), cruciform chapel, Calvary church (1803-1805); Fragenstein castle ruin (built before 1209, in decay since 1703). Nearby is the Mittenwaldbahn railway between Innsbruck and Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Germany, a complex feat of engineering (1910-1912); Emperor Maximilian Grotto.

Literature: N. Prantl, Heimat Zirl, 1960; K.-H. Velano, Festschrift anläßlich der Markterhebung von Zirl 1984, 1984; B. Flöss, Zirl in Wort und Bild, 1983.