Schloss Ambras Innsbruck

About this audio guide

This guide to Schloss Ambras in Innsbruck follows the secret marriage between Archduke Ferdinand the Second and Philippine Welser, an Augsburg merchant's daughter with no claim to Habsburg rank. It traces the deal his father forced on them, the strange arrangement that made her mistress of this castle, and the years the truth stayed hidden. It also touches the strange, wonder-filled collection Ferdinand built here afterward. Best heard standing among the armor in the room where he kept it.