Goldenes Dachl, Innsbruck

This is the famous part of Innsbruck : The golden roof. It really looks beautiful! Hahaha, yes, I am calling this a tourist trap. In a way it is a trap, because it is used to get the tourists to Innsbruck.

History of the 'Golden Roof' that I copies from http://www.tiscover.at :

It is built by Archduke Friedrich IV in the early 15th century as the residence of the Tirolean sovereigns (earlier also known as 'Neuhof' – New Court). Emperor Maximilian I had the original oriel rebuilt by Nikolaus Türing the Elder from 1494 to 1496. He added a loggia over the window, from which the imperial court could observe festivals and tournaments mounted on the square below. The two-storey oriel is 16 meters wide; the roof is 3.7 m high and covered with some 2,600 fire-gilt copper tiles – giving the 'Golden Roof' its name, though they are actually made of copper. The steep roof shows ornamentations of wrought iron at the crests. The balustrades of the oriel are adorned with reliefs of coats of arms and with famous freestone reliefs, representing the imperial court. Among them the Emperor together with his two wives, Maria Bianca Sforza and Maria of Burgundy, and groups of dancers and jugglers. The balustrade on the first floor is adorned with carved coats of arms, representing Austria, Hungary, the double-headed eagle of the Empire, the single-headed eagle of the kingdom of Germany, Burgundy and Milan, as well as the Tirol and Styria. The fresco paintings by Joerg Koelderer show two standard-bearers with the flags of the Empire and the province of Tirol. The original reliefs are on display at the ‘Ferdinandeum’ museum.