Schloss Ambras Innsbruck

Schloss Ambras stands on a forested hill above the eastern outskirts of Innsbruck and was transformed in the second half of the 16th century by Archduke Ferdinand II from a medieval fortress into a Renaissance residence. The lower castle contains one of Europe's earliest museum collections — the Kunstkammer and the Armoury — while the upper castle was rebuilt as a residence with an exceptional Spanish Hall, a wood-panelled ceremonial room considered the oldest extant purpose-built museum gallery in the world. The surrounding Italian Renaissance garden has been maintained in its historic layout.