The Bergisel is a

hill A hill is a landform that extends above the surrounding terrain. It often has a distinct summit. Terminology The distinction between a hill and a mountain is unclear and largely subjective, but a hill is universally considered to be not as ...

(746 m) that lies to the south of Innsbruck,

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, in the area of Wilten, where the

Sill river The Sill is a river in Tyrol, Austria. It is one of the larger tributaries of the Inn in Tyrol. It flows north through the Wipptal to Innsbruck. Its source lies east of the Brenner Pass The Brenner Pass (german: link=no, Brennerpass , shor ...

meets the Inn Valley. The word's first syllable ''Berg-'' doesn't correspond etymologically to the German word ''Berg'' with the meaning ''mountain''. The Bergisel's contemporary name is derived from the pre-Roman word ''burgusinus'' (elevated position), which then altered through

folk etymology Folk etymology (also known as popular etymology, analogical reformation, reanalysis, morphological reanalysis or etymological reinterpretation) is a change in a word or phrase resulting from the replacement of an unfamiliar form by a more famili ...

, causing the occasional spelling ''Berg Isel'' or its English equivalent ''Mount Isel''. Among its earlier uses were as a cremation site and as a habitation area during the Iron Age. In 1809, Bergisel was the site of the four Battles of Bergisel under the command of the freedom fighter Andreas Hofer. In 1892, the Andreas Hofer

monument A monument is a type of structure that was explicitly created to commemorate a person or event, or which has become relevant to a social group as a part of their remembrance of historic times or cultural heritage, due to its artistic, hist ...

was erected in order to commemorate the battles. Since 1952, Innsbruck has hosted one leg of the Four Hills Tournament. The

Bergiselschanze The Bergisel Ski Jump (german: Bergiselschanze), whose stadium has a capacity of 26,000, is a ski jumping hill located in Bergisel in Innsbruck, Austria. It is one of the more important venues in the FIS Ski Jumping World Cup, annually hosting the ...

was built of

concrete Concrete is a composite material composed of fine and coarse aggregate bonded together with a fluid cement (cement paste) that hardens (cures) over time. Concrete is the second-most-used substance in the world after water, and is the most ...

for the 1964 Winter Olympics to replace an older, smaller ramp. It was also used for the

1976 Winter Olympics The 1976 Winter Olympics, officially known as the XII Olympic Winter Games (german: XII. Olympische Winterspiele, french: XIIes Jeux olympiques d'hiver) and commonly known as Innsbruck 1976 ( bar, Innschbruck 1976, label= Austro-Bavarian), was a ...

. A new ramp was opened in 2003, designed by the architect

Zaha Hadid Dame Zaha Mohammad Hadid ( ar, زها حديد ''Zahā Ḥadīd''; 31 October 1950 – 31 March 2016) was an Iraqi-British architect, artist and designer, recognised as a major figure in architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centu ...

, as the old one no longer conformed to contemporary requirements of ski jumping. Until an accident following a mass panic, which resulted in several

death Death is the irreversible cessation of all biological functions that sustain an organism. For organisms with a brain, death can also be defined as the irreversible cessation of functioning of the whole brain, including brainstem, and brain ...

s, the Bergisel stadium was also the site of the Air & Style snowboard festival. Both the Brenner railway and the

Brennerautobahn The Brenner Autobahn ( it, Autostrada del Brennero or it, AutoBrennero, en, Brenner motorway) refers to a major European truck route that connects Innsbruck in Austria to Verona in northern Italy. Numbered as the A13 in the Austrian section, ...

have tunnels below the Bergisel. The Sill Gorge, a recreational site, is located at its base. The Bergisel can be reached by the Stubaitalbahn from Innsbruck, exiting at Station Sonnenburgerhof, or by the Tram 1, at Station Bergisel.

References

{{Authority control Mountains of Tyrol (state) History of Tyrol (region)