Imst (; Southern Bavarian: ''Imscht'') is a town in the

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 ...

federal state A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government (federalism). In a federation, the self-governi ...

Tyrol Tyrol (; historically the Tyrole; de-AT, Tirol ; it, Tirolo) is a historical region in the Alps - in Northern Italy and western Austria. The area was historically the core of the County of Tyrol, part of the Holy Roman Empire, Austrian Emp ...

. It lies on the River Inn in western Tyrol, some west of Innsbruck and at an altitude of

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as '' orthometric heights''. The ...

. With a current population (2013) of 9,552, Imst is the administrative centre of Imst

District A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

History

Licensed since 1282 to hold a regular market. Until 1918, the town (named earlier also ''JMST'') was part of the

Austrian monarchy The Habsburg monarchy (german: Habsburgermonarchie, ), also known as the Danubian monarchy (german: Donaumonarchie, ), or Habsburg Empire (german: Habsburgerreich, ), was the collection of empires, kingdoms, duchies, counties and other polities ...

(Austria side after the

compromise of 1867 The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 (german: Ausgleich, hu, Kiegyezés) established the dual monarchy of Austria-Hungary. The Compromise only partially re-established the former pre-1848 sovereignty and status of the Kingdom of Hungar ...

), head of the district of the same name, one of the 21 ''Bezirkshauptmannschaften'' in the

province. Imst received full

town rights Town privileges or borough rights were important features of European towns during most of the second millennium. The city law customary in Central Europe probably dates back to Italian models, which in turn were oriented towards the traditio ...

in 1898.

Schemenlaufen

Every four years Imst hosts their Fasnacht, or carnival before

Lent Lent ( la, Quadragesima, 'Fortieth') is a solemn religious observance in the liturgical calendar commemorating the 40 days Jesus spent fasting in the desert and enduring temptation by Satan, according to the Gospels of Matthew, Mark and L ...

. This carnival is listed by

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) aimed at promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. I ...

as one of their Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage. 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.

Luge track

In 1958, the first artificially refrigerated luge track was completed at Imst.1964 Winter Olympic Games official report.
p. 180. – accessed March 8, 2008 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%. No turn names were given for the track. It hosted the

FIL World Luge Championships The FIL World Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place on an almost annual basis in non- Winter Olympics years since 1955. These championships are shown for artificial tracks. See FIL World Luge Natura ...

1963 Events January * January 1 – Bogle–Chandler case: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation scientist Dr. Gilbert Bogle and Mrs. Margaret Chandler are found dead (presumed poisoned), in bushland near the Lane Co ...

and 1978 and it hosted the

FIL European Luge Championships The FIL European Luge Championships, part of the International Luge Federation (FIL) have taken place since 1914. From 1914 to 1934, these championships were part of the Internationaler Schlittensportsverband (ISSV - International Sled Sport Federat ...

in 1956,

1971 * The year 1971 had three partial solar eclipses (Solar eclipse of February 25, 1971, February 25, Solar eclipse of July 22, 1971, July 22 and Solar eclipse of August 20, 1971, August 20) and two total lunar eclipses (February 1971 lunar eclip ...

, and

1974 Major events in 1974 include the aftermath of the 1973 oil crisis and the resignation of President of the United States, United States President Richard Nixon following the Watergate scandal. In the Middle East, the aftermath of the 1973 Yom K ...

.FIL European Luge Championships men's singles results since 1914

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.

Climate

Sons and daughters of the town

* Theodor von Hörmann (1840–1895), landscape painter * Friedrich Heinrich Suso Denifle (1844–1905), church historian, Dominican, professor in Graz * Alfons Gorbach (1898–1972), politician (ÖVP), Federal Chancellor of Austria from 1961 to 1964

Notes and references

Official Imst town council website
(in German)
Website of SOS-Kinderdorf international

External links

{{Authority control Bobsleigh, luge, and skeleton tracks Sports venues in Austria Lechtal Alps Cities and towns in Imst District Populated places on the Inn (river) Mieming Range