Court Church

Hofkirche
Hofkirche in Innsbruck, Austria
Religion
Affiliation	Roman Catholic Church
Year consecrated	1553
Status	Active
Location
Location	Innsbruck, Austria
State	Tyrol
Shown within Austria
Geographic coordinates	47°16′06″N 11°23′43″E / 47.26839°N 11.39525°E / 47.26839; 11.39525
Architecture
Architect(s)	Andrea Crivelli
Style	Gothic, Renaissance
Founder	Emperor Ferdinand I
General contractor	Nikolaus Turing
Groundbreaking	1549
Completed	1553
Direction of façade	NNE

The Hofkirche (Court Church) is a Gothic church located in the Altstadt (Old Town) section of Innsbruck, Austria. The church was built in 1553 by Emperor Ferdinand I (1503–1564) as a memorial to his grandfather Emperor Maximilian I (1459–1519),^[1] whose cenotaph within boasts a remarkable collection of German Renaissance sculpture. The church also contains the tomb of Andreas Hofer, Tyrol's national hero.^[2]

Although Maximilian's will had directed that he be buried in the castle chapel in Wiener Neustadt, it proved impractical to construct there the large memorial whose plans he had supervised in detail, and Ferdinand I as executor planned construction of a new church and monastery in Innsbruck for a suitable memorial. In the end, however, Maximilian's simple tomb remained in Wiener Neustadt and the Hofkirche serves as a cenotaph.