As an architect, I constantly walk around with my eyes up gazing in wonder and embracing as many details as I can from the buildings around us. I try to discern where renovation or remodel work has happened in the past, calculate how buildings relate to their neighbors, and just constantly evaluate everything I see.

I probably look like an idiot staring upwards all the time, but I think I crash into things less often than if I were staring down at a mobile phone . . .

Most of the time I am only able to admire a building from the exterior. Unless the structure is a museum, you often can’t get in. Ground floor restaurants and shops only tell part of the story and are often designed in a manner completely different from the building housing them. We have been taking advantage, however, of churches. Almost every church we come across – no matter the size – is open to the public. Some ask for a donation to take photographs or to see specific areas, but you are always welcome inside.

Innsbruck, like most European towns, has many churches worth visiting. If you read our post about the Bergisel ski jump, we included a basilica and abbey which we stopped at on the way to the ski jump. Today I am going to focus on one of the biggest churches in the city – the Dom zu St. Jakob.

The Dom zu St. Jacob (or Innsbruck Cathedral, or Cathedral of St. James) is down the street just beyond the Golden Roof in a tight courtyard. A Christian pilgrimage route passes through Innsbruck – the Way of St. James (commonly known by its Spanish name: El Camino de Santiago), thus the cathedral in his name.

St. Jacob’s was constructed in the early 1700s on the site of an early twelfth century church. It was damaged during WWII, but has been restored. While we were there, a new refurbishment of the exterior was ongoing.

I greatly admire the Hofkirche, but this cathedral is on another level. The Baroque interior is extravagant and yet very elegant and the mastery of the artists is fully on display. If given only two choices – visit an art museum or visit a cathedral, I will always pick the church. Why stare at a painting on a wall or a statue when you can immerse yourself completely in a space like this?

This church is magnificent and well worth a visit while enjoying the city of Innsbruck.

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