The Court Church impresses with the 28 larger-than-life figures of the bronze-cast Black Statues, which guard the magnifi-cent tomb of Emperor Maximilian I. The Court Church is therefore also known as the Schwarz-Mander-Kirche. This sight in Innsbruck is one of the most impressive imperial tombs in Europe.
The 28 statues were originally supposed to number 40. The plans provided for the tomb monument of Maximilian I to be flanked by a total of 40 bronze statues. The figures represent ancestors, predecessors, and role models. 100 smaller bronze figures were supposed to symbolise the Habsburg dynasty. Even though the tomb remains unfinished, the 28 larger-than-life statutes of the Black Mander are more than impressive.
IIn the main nave of the Court Church Innsbruck, the tomb of Emperor Maximilian I is clearly visible. During his lifetime he commissioned the production of the bronze figures with the plan to have them set up in the St. George's Chapel in the castle at Wiener Neustadt. These plans, however, never came to fruition. Emperor Ferdinand I, grandson of Maximilian I, later ordered the construction of the court church in Innsbruck, where the stately tomb still rests to this day.
The Tyrolean freedom fighter Andreas Hofer also found his final resting place in the Court Church Innsbruck. Shot dead in Mantua in 1810, his bones were secretly transferred to Innsbruck in 1823. Emperor Franz I had the Viennese sculptor Johann Nepomuk Schaller make a statue of Hofer, which has served as a tomb monument since 1834.
The cenotaph, also known as the shrine tomb, is decorated with marble reliefs depicting scenes from Habsburg life. The more than 450-year old Ebert organ, the Silver Chapel, and last but not least, the tombs of Archduke Ferdinand II and his wife Philippine Welser also distinguish the Court Church. Maximilian I and Ferdinand I engaged the most outstanding art-ists of their time, such as Dürer, Colin, and many others, and consequently had a decisive influence on court art.
