Cu K-edge extended X-ray absorption fine structure (EXAFS) and Minuit X-ray absorption near-edge structure (MXAN) analyses were combined to evaluate the structure of the copper(II) imidazole complex ion in liquid aqueous solution. Both methods converged to the same square-pyramidal inner coordination sphere [Cu(Im)(4)L-ax](2+) (L-ax indeterminate) with four equatorial nitrogen atoms at EXAFS, 2.02 +/-0.01 angstrom, and MXAN, 1.99 +/- 0.03 angstrom. A short-axial N/O scatterer (L-ax) was found at 2.12 +/- 0.02 angstrom (EXAFS) or 2.14 +/- 0.06 angstrom (MXAN). A second but very weak axial Cu-N/O interaction was found at 2.9 +/- 0.1 angstrom (EXAFS) or 3.0 +/- 0.1 angstrom (MXAN). In the MXAN fits, only a square-pyramidal structural model successfully reproduced the doubled maximum of the rising K-edge X-ray absorption spectrum, specifically excluding an octahedral model. Both EXAFS and MXAN also found eight outlying oxygen scatterers at 4.2 +/- 0.3 angstrom that contributed significant intensity over the entire spectral energy range. Two prominent rising K-edge shoulders at 8987.1 and 8990.5 eV were found to reflect multiple scattering from the 3.0 angstrom axial scatterer and the imidazole rings, respectively. In the MXAN fits, the imidazole rings took in-plane rotationally staggered positions about copper. The combined (EXAFS and MXAN) model for the unconstrained cupric imidazole complex ion in liquid aqueous solution is an axially elongated square-pyramidal core, with a weak nonbonded interaction at the second axial coordination position and a solvation shell of eight nearest-neighbor water molecules. This core square-pyramidal motif has persisted through [Cu(H2O)(5)](2+), [Cu(NH3)(4)(NH3,H2O)](2+),(1,2) and now [Cu(Im)(4)L-ax)](2+) and appears to be the geometry preferred by unconstrained aqueous-phase copper(II) complex ions.