Telfs

Telfs, Tirol, market town in the district of Innsbruck-Land, alt. 634 m, pop. 10,179 (1981: pop. 7743), area 45.48 km², in the upper Inntal valley, at the foot of the Hohe Munde mountain (alt. 2662 m); Zimmerbergklamm, Arzbergklamm und Hohe Klamm gorges nearby. - District court, district health and social insurance office, chamber of labour, youth welfare office, Islamic cultural centre, function hall, exercise and training academy, Bundes-Oberstufen-Realgymnasium secondary school, commercial school, adult education centre, electric power plant and waterworks; 3760 people in gainful employment (as of 1991), 50 % of whom in production (excavators, aluminium, pipes and hoses, machine fitting) and 50 % in the service sector (e.g. forwarding agents), bi-seasonal tourism (279,447 overnight stays). - Grave finds from the Bronze Age, trading site in the Middle Ages, monumental neo-Romanesque parish church, (1860-1863, alterations 1962 and 1983-1987); Franciscan church (consecrated in 1705, mosaic from 1903/1904) and monastery; Baroque Mariahilf chapel with high altar (1696) by A. Thamasch in Birkenberg; medieval church with Gothic core (altered after 1623) in St. Georgen; church of St. Veit (consecrated in 1384, altered in 1641) near Lehen; small Baroque church in Mösern; town hall with 2 side oriels; chapel (1964-1966) by C. Holzmeister in Bairbach; typical upper Inntal houses with girder gables and Baroque façade paintings; home of the Baroque painter J. Schöpf (also monument). - Local custom on Shrove Tuesday: "Schleicherlaufen" procession (every five years, 1995).

Literature: W. Thaler (ed.), Telfs-Buch, 1955; W. Thaler et al., Telfs. Porträt einer Tiroler Marktgemeinde in Texten und Bildern anläßlich des 80jährigen Jubiläums der Erhebung zur Marktgemeinde 1908, 2 vols.,1988; S. Dietrich, Zeitgeschichte von Tirol 1918-1946, doctoral thesis, Innsbruck, 1992.