31 Oct 2026
Autumn Trip to Salzburg – A Virtual Tour of the Town
I spent a few days in and around Salzburg. I had visited the town in the 1980ies and thought it would be nice to travel there again, this time with a digital camera. It is a pretty town with Medieval remains, fancy Baroque architecture, churches, large squares, narrow lanes, romantic cemetaries, two houses connected with Wolfgang Amadeus Morzart, and a big whopping fortress.
I also took some trips to the surroundings which are dominated by Alpine mountains and quite scenic, as well as rich in history.
View to Salzburg's Old Town and Hohensalzburg Fortress from the Monks' Hill
The area of Salzburg has been settled since the Neolithicum, later by Celtic tribes, followed by the Romans who called the town Iuvavum; it became the see of an archbishop in the 9th century and a more or less independent feudal state in the 14th century, but its golden age were the Renaissance and especially the 17th century, when the prince-archbishops developed Salzburg into one of the most magnificent towns north of the Alps with a collection of fancy Baroque buildings.
Chapter Square, with the Cathedral to the right
The wealth that made such developments possible derived from the salt mines (salt = German: Salz) in the surrounding mountains. Salt has been mined since the Neolithicum, but the prince-archbishops significantly improved the mining processes and thereby the content of their money chests.
View from the Fortress to the Cathedral, the Old Town and the Salzach river
Salzburg, which is now a town in Austria, had been part of the feudal structure of the Holy Roman Empire until the secularization in the early 19th century when it ceased to be the seat of a prince-archbishop and became part of the Habsburg Empire. But the town remained culturally important, not the least thanks to the Salzburg Festival which exists since 1920.
Salzburg's Old Town seen from the Salzach river
I'll leave the history of Salzburg for another post, for now I just want to share some impressions. The weather was a mix of overcast and sunny, so some of the photos came out a bit on the grey side, but the town overall gives a sort of 'white' impression due to the stately Baroque buildings and the houses which are often painted in muted pastel colours.
View from the Mönchsberg to the Salzach river
Salzburg is divided by the Salzach river which was used for the transport of salt and other goods. To the left is the part of the old town – the historicel kernel – with the fortress, the Nonnberg nunnery, the cathedral, several other churches, and the residence of the prince-archbishops, as well as the Medieval quarter with its narrow lanes (the Corn Lane is the most famous, but not the only one).
The Salzach river is crossed by several bridges, some for all traffic, but several are reserved for pedestrians, like the Mozart Bridge.
Fortress, the Medieval keep (Hoher Stock
The fortress (don't call it a castle or you'll get thrown into the dungeon *grin*) dominates the town because it can be seen from many places, sitting atop one of the three hills around Salzburg (Festungsberg, Mönchsberg, Nonnberg – Fortress Hill, Monks' Hill, Nuns' Hill). Frankly, it needs a fresh layer of white paint; I don't remember the walls being so faded and grey when I first visited some 40 years ago.
Nowadays, the fortress can be reached by a furnicular; a nice thing for lazy tourists who had a too rich breakfast.
Fortress Hohensalzburg, the Golden Hall
The Fortress Hohensalzburg is one of the largest fortifications in Europe that goes back all the way to the Middle Ages; it encompasses 7,000 m2. The oldest part of the fortress dates back to 1077, with a keep cum chapel that is still part of the Hoher Stock, the ancient centre of the fortress. The buildings were expanded by Leonhard von Keutschach in the late 15th century in the flamboyant Gothic style, including quite a bit of gold in the – you guess it – Golden Hall, the representative dining room.
Fortress, the inner courtyard
The castle was converted into a 'modern' fortress during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), with additional curtain walls, bastions and zwingers that could cope with cannon fire. But the Hohensalzburg nevertheless lost its importance as defensive structure, and by the 1850ies it was rather derelict. At that point, Emperor Franz Josef I had it repaired and used as garrison. A final restoration took place in the years bevor 1981. The fortress is now in possession of the County of Salzburg.
St.Peter Church, seen from the catacombs
St.Peter is one of the oldest churches in Salzburg, situated below the Mönchsberg (Monks' Hill). It retains some of the mid-11th century architectural features since it was only renovated – the interior is entirely Baroque – not destroyed or dismantled. Abbot Balderich had a church built on the remains of an even older church dating back to Carolingian times. Balderich's church was done in the Romanesque style; transept and quire were added in the 16th century. The church also has one of the oldest cemetaries in Salzburg (see below).
Salzburg Cathedral, the Baroque towers with the Immaculata Pillar in the foreground
The cathedral dates back to Carolingian times, but nothing is left of that first 8th century building, though it was one of the largest north of the Alps even then, as was its successor, the Romanesque basilica from AD 1000.
An incendie destroyed part of the cathedral in 1598. In the years to follow, prince-archbishop Wolf Dietrich of Raitenau (1559-1617) – who commissioned several of the Baroque buildings in Salzburg – had the ruins removed and a new cathedral built, surrounded by four squares (see also below).
Horse Bath belonging to the Princes' Stables
During the bloom of the Baroque architecture, even the horses got a fancy bath. The sculpture of the horse and horse tamer was created in 1695 by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach or one of his disciples, and is based on horse figures from Antiquity via the Italian school of sculpture and architecture of Bernini in Rome. The frescoes date to 1732.
Fountain on the Residence Square
Wolf Dietrich of Raitenau also created the Residence Square, one of the four squares around the cathedral. He not only demolished several private houses (I hope he at least paid the owners) but also levelled an ancient cemetary in order to get enough space for his grand project.
The Residence Fountain from 1661 is the largest Baroque well in central Europe. It shows mythological sea horses and other figures, made of marble from the nearby Untersberg. The artists hailed from Italy.
Getreidegasse (Corn Lane)
But some places in Salzburg's old town escaped the Baroqueisation, like the Getreidegasse which had been part of a traffic way passing through Iuvavum already during Roman times. Since the 14th century, the street was a place where merchants, craftsmen and physicians lived, and with breweries and inns. The high houses display the signs of guilds, and today also shops and restaurants (they have to be designed and approved to fit the overall image – not that well, sometimes, I think). The Corn Lane is one of the main tourists hubs, with stores and coffee shops, mostly of the upper price ranges. (No, I won't mention the Swiss Chocolate Store. *wink*)
Yard and covered passageway between Getreidegasse and University Square
A typical feature of the Getreidegasse are the covered passageways between some of the houses, giving easier access to the street and square on the other side of the quarter. They usually lead to small inner yards between the , with little cafés or just some space with a tree or a well, and a bank to sit – half of the tourists miss them, thus the places are quiter than the busy main lane. The passageways are used for display windows of the surrounding shops, and you can find traces of the houses' architectural history in those passages and yards, like semicircular arcades, Medieval marble pillars and such.
Old Market Square
Another pretty spot in Salzburg is the Alter Markt (Old Market) which has been a market place and a site for town festivals since the 13th century. The houses surrounding the site date back to the Middle Ages, but have been adapted to the Renaissance or a 'Baroque light' style, esp. considering the façades. There has been a well since 1488, but the present version dates to 1687; the statue of St.Florian to 1734. Fortunately, our friend Wolf Dietrich did not expand that square by demolishing houses (like in case of the Residence Square).
View to the right side of the historical centre, with the towers of the Trinity Church
The right side of Salzburg's historical centre is dominated by the Mirabell Palace and Gardens, and the Linzergasse (Linz Lane), it also includes several more churches like the Trinity church, and merges into the more modern quarters around the railway station.
Houses in the Linzergasse (Linz Lane)
The Linzergasse was the old main road – going back to Roman times – leading east. It shows a mostly undisturbed ensemble of Medieval houses and houses dating to the 16th century. It is only a bit wider than the Getreidegasse and almost as touristy; only most of the shops are chain stores.
Mirabell Palace
Another building by Wolf Dietrich of Raitenau is the Mirabell Palace which he built for his long time mistress Salome Alt, daughter of a merchant and town councillor family, with whom he had 15 children. Actually, she was more popular than the prince-archbishop, and more or less officially acknowledged. The Emperor elevated her and her children to the nobility. Nevertheless, she had to leave the palace – then called Altenau – when Wolf Dietrich was deposed in 1612 and ended his days as prisoner in Hohensalzburg Fortress. His successor Markus Sittikus renamend the palace Mirabell.
Mirabell Palace, the Marble Hall
The palace dates to 1606, influcend – like so many buildings in Salzburg – by the Italian Baroque. At the time it stood outside the castle walls. After a fire in 1818, the palace was restored, but in the less decorative Neoclassicistic style. Today, most of the rooms are occupied by the town administration, only some, like the Marble Hall, still show the former splendour. The room has been used for concerts already when young Mozart (see below) performed in Salzburg.
St.Sebastian Cemetary
Salzburg has two cemetaries in the Italian campo santo style (a large yard surrounded by arcades which hold family burials, with more graves in the yard itself): St.Sebastian Cemetary and St.Peter Cemetary below the castle. I've visited both; they lie a bit outside the tourist interests and are quiet, pretty places.
St.Sebastian dates to 1600, replacing a smaller churchyard of the nearby church. Our friend Wolf Dietrich of Raitenau is buried in a mausoleum on the site, and some members of Mozart's family have a gave in the yard.
St.Peter Cemetary
As mentioned above, the St.Peter Cemetary is one of the oldest in Salzbug (together with the one on the Nuns' Hill). It was used as burial place since late Roman times. The churchyard also has the arcades with the family burials and often lavish Baroque decorations, but the place is less symmetrical than the St.Sebastian Cemetary. An outstanding feature are the Roman catacombs in the mountain which originally served other purposes than Christian ones. Two rooms have been changed into chapels during the Middle Ages.
Mozart's birthplace in the Getreidegasse
Salzburg is also a Mozart town. Several houses are connected with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and his family, so the birthplace in the Corn Lane. The house stands out a bit due to the bright ochre colour. There is a museum inside which I visted back in the 1980ies, but the swarm of tourists milling at the entrance looked like more like stress than fun, and there's not that much to see anyway, except for vitrines with letters and music sheets, a cembalo, some meubles, etc.
The house dates to before the late 16th century when it is mentioned in a transaction. At Mozart's time, it belonged to the merchant Johann Lorenz von Hagenauer who was a friend and sponsor of the Mozart family ever since Mozart's parents had rented part of it in 1647.
Historical house in the Open Air Museum Salzburg
Trust me to find an open air museum. *grin* This one is about 15 km outside of Salzburg and shows historical houses and buildings from the surroundings, dating to the 15th to early 20th centuries. Like most other such museums, it aims to preserve houses and living conditions of former times. The Salzburg museum opened in 1984, but plans for a museum went back to the 1920ies.
Houses from Pongau, with the Alps in the background
I arrived a bit late in the afternoon and could not visit some of the more remote houses – the area is rather large (50 ha.) – but I caught a good impression of Alpine architecture which is quite different from the houses in northern Germany displayed in Molfsee/Kiel, or Scandinavian buildings. The advantage of the late hour was that there were few visitors around.
Old Town with the Fortress behind
I'll leave you with another photo of the old town left of the Salzach and the fortress behind. The salt mines in the surroundings which indirectly influenced the history of Salzburg will get a post of their own.
I spent a few days in and around Salzburg. I had visited the town in the 1980ies and thought it would be nice to travel there again, this time with a digital camera. It is a pretty town with Medieval remains, fancy Baroque architecture, churches, large squares, narrow lanes, romantic cemetaries, two houses connected with Wolfgang Amadeus Morzart, and a big whopping fortress.
I also took some trips to the surroundings which are dominated by Alpine mountains and quite scenic, as well as rich in history.
The area of Salzburg has been settled since the Neolithicum, later by Celtic tribes, followed by the Romans who called the town Iuvavum; it became the see of an archbishop in the 9th century and a more or less independent feudal state in the 14th century, but its golden age were the Renaissance and especially the 17th century, when the prince-archbishops developed Salzburg into one of the most magnificent towns north of the Alps with a collection of fancy Baroque buildings.
The wealth that made such developments possible derived from the salt mines (salt = German: Salz) in the surrounding mountains. Salt has been mined since the Neolithicum, but the prince-archbishops significantly improved the mining processes and thereby the content of their money chests.
Salzburg, which is now a town in Austria, had been part of the feudal structure of the Holy Roman Empire until the secularization in the early 19th century when it ceased to be the seat of a prince-archbishop and became part of the Habsburg Empire. But the town remained culturally important, not the least thanks to the Salzburg Festival which exists since 1920.
I'll leave the history of Salzburg for another post, for now I just want to share some impressions. The weather was a mix of overcast and sunny, so some of the photos came out a bit on the grey side, but the town overall gives a sort of 'white' impression due to the stately Baroque buildings and the houses which are often painted in muted pastel colours.
Salzburg is divided by the Salzach river which was used for the transport of salt and other goods. To the left is the part of the old town – the historicel kernel – with the fortress, the Nonnberg nunnery, the cathedral, several other churches, and the residence of the prince-archbishops, as well as the Medieval quarter with its narrow lanes (the Corn Lane is the most famous, but not the only one).
The Salzach river is crossed by several bridges, some for all traffic, but several are reserved for pedestrians, like the Mozart Bridge.
The fortress (don't call it a castle or you'll get thrown into the dungeon *grin*) dominates the town because it can be seen from many places, sitting atop one of the three hills around Salzburg (Festungsberg, Mönchsberg, Nonnberg – Fortress Hill, Monks' Hill, Nuns' Hill). Frankly, it needs a fresh layer of white paint; I don't remember the walls being so faded and grey when I first visited some 40 years ago.
Nowadays, the fortress can be reached by a furnicular; a nice thing for lazy tourists who had a too rich breakfast.
The Fortress Hohensalzburg is one of the largest fortifications in Europe that goes back all the way to the Middle Ages; it encompasses 7,000 m2. The oldest part of the fortress dates back to 1077, with a keep cum chapel that is still part of the Hoher Stock, the ancient centre of the fortress. The buildings were expanded by Leonhard von Keutschach in the late 15th century in the flamboyant Gothic style, including quite a bit of gold in the – you guess it – Golden Hall, the representative dining room.
The castle was converted into a 'modern' fortress during the Thirty Years War (1618-1648), with additional curtain walls, bastions and zwingers that could cope with cannon fire. But the Hohensalzburg nevertheless lost its importance as defensive structure, and by the 1850ies it was rather derelict. At that point, Emperor Franz Josef I had it repaired and used as garrison. A final restoration took place in the years bevor 1981. The fortress is now in possession of the County of Salzburg.
St.Peter is one of the oldest churches in Salzburg, situated below the Mönchsberg (Monks' Hill). It retains some of the mid-11th century architectural features since it was only renovated – the interior is entirely Baroque – not destroyed or dismantled. Abbot Balderich had a church built on the remains of an even older church dating back to Carolingian times. Balderich's church was done in the Romanesque style; transept and quire were added in the 16th century. The church also has one of the oldest cemetaries in Salzburg (see below).
The cathedral dates back to Carolingian times, but nothing is left of that first 8th century building, though it was one of the largest north of the Alps even then, as was its successor, the Romanesque basilica from AD 1000.
An incendie destroyed part of the cathedral in 1598. In the years to follow, prince-archbishop Wolf Dietrich of Raitenau (1559-1617) – who commissioned several of the Baroque buildings in Salzburg – had the ruins removed and a new cathedral built, surrounded by four squares (see also below).
During the bloom of the Baroque architecture, even the horses got a fancy bath. The sculpture of the horse and horse tamer was created in 1695 by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach or one of his disciples, and is based on horse figures from Antiquity via the Italian school of sculpture and architecture of Bernini in Rome. The frescoes date to 1732.
Wolf Dietrich of Raitenau also created the Residence Square, one of the four squares around the cathedral. He not only demolished several private houses (I hope he at least paid the owners) but also levelled an ancient cemetary in order to get enough space for his grand project.
The Residence Fountain from 1661 is the largest Baroque well in central Europe. It shows mythological sea horses and other figures, made of marble from the nearby Untersberg. The artists hailed from Italy.
But some places in Salzburg's old town escaped the Baroqueisation, like the Getreidegasse which had been part of a traffic way passing through Iuvavum already during Roman times. Since the 14th century, the street was a place where merchants, craftsmen and physicians lived, and with breweries and inns. The high houses display the signs of guilds, and today also shops and restaurants (they have to be designed and approved to fit the overall image – not that well, sometimes, I think). The Corn Lane is one of the main tourists hubs, with stores and coffee shops, mostly of the upper price ranges. (No, I won't mention the Swiss Chocolate Store. *wink*)
A typical feature of the Getreidegasse are the covered passageways between some of the houses, giving easier access to the street and square on the other side of the quarter. They usually lead to small inner yards between the , with little cafés or just some space with a tree or a well, and a bank to sit – half of the tourists miss them, thus the places are quiter than the busy main lane. The passageways are used for display windows of the surrounding shops, and you can find traces of the houses' architectural history in those passages and yards, like semicircular arcades, Medieval marble pillars and such.
Another pretty spot in Salzburg is the Alter Markt (Old Market) which has been a market place and a site for town festivals since the 13th century. The houses surrounding the site date back to the Middle Ages, but have been adapted to the Renaissance or a 'Baroque light' style, esp. considering the façades. There has been a well since 1488, but the present version dates to 1687; the statue of St.Florian to 1734. Fortunately, our friend Wolf Dietrich did not expand that square by demolishing houses (like in case of the Residence Square).
The right side of Salzburg's historical centre is dominated by the Mirabell Palace and Gardens, and the Linzergasse (Linz Lane), it also includes several more churches like the Trinity church, and merges into the more modern quarters around the railway station.
The Linzergasse was the old main road – going back to Roman times – leading east. It shows a mostly undisturbed ensemble of Medieval houses and houses dating to the 16th century. It is only a bit wider than the Getreidegasse and almost as touristy; only most of the shops are chain stores.
Another building by Wolf Dietrich of Raitenau is the Mirabell Palace which he built for his long time mistress Salome Alt, daughter of a merchant and town councillor family, with whom he had 15 children. Actually, she was more popular than the prince-archbishop, and more or less officially acknowledged. The Emperor elevated her and her children to the nobility. Nevertheless, she had to leave the palace – then called Altenau – when Wolf Dietrich was deposed in 1612 and ended his days as prisoner in Hohensalzburg Fortress. His successor Markus Sittikus renamend the palace Mirabell.
The palace dates to 1606, influcend – like so many buildings in Salzburg – by the Italian Baroque. At the time it stood outside the castle walls. After a fire in 1818, the palace was restored, but in the less decorative Neoclassicistic style. Today, most of the rooms are occupied by the town administration, only some, like the Marble Hall, still show the former splendour. The room has been used for concerts already when young Mozart (see below) performed in Salzburg.
Salzburg has two cemetaries in the Italian campo santo style (a large yard surrounded by arcades which hold family burials, with more graves in the yard itself): St.Sebastian Cemetary and St.Peter Cemetary below the castle. I've visited both; they lie a bit outside the tourist interests and are quiet, pretty places.
St.Sebastian dates to 1600, replacing a smaller churchyard of the nearby church. Our friend Wolf Dietrich of Raitenau is buried in a mausoleum on the site, and some members of Mozart's family have a gave in the yard.
As mentioned above, the St.Peter Cemetary is one of the oldest in Salzbug (together with the one on the Nuns' Hill). It was used as burial place since late Roman times. The churchyard also has the arcades with the family burials and often lavish Baroque decorations, but the place is less symmetrical than the St.Sebastian Cemetary. An outstanding feature are the Roman catacombs in the mountain which originally served other purposes than Christian ones. Two rooms have been changed into chapels during the Middle Ages.
Salzburg is also a Mozart town. Several houses are connected with Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (1756-1791) and his family, so the birthplace in the Corn Lane. The house stands out a bit due to the bright ochre colour. There is a museum inside which I visted back in the 1980ies, but the swarm of tourists milling at the entrance looked like more like stress than fun, and there's not that much to see anyway, except for vitrines with letters and music sheets, a cembalo, some meubles, etc.
The house dates to before the late 16th century when it is mentioned in a transaction. At Mozart's time, it belonged to the merchant Johann Lorenz von Hagenauer who was a friend and sponsor of the Mozart family ever since Mozart's parents had rented part of it in 1647.
Trust me to find an open air museum. *grin* This one is about 15 km outside of Salzburg and shows historical houses and buildings from the surroundings, dating to the 15th to early 20th centuries. Like most other such museums, it aims to preserve houses and living conditions of former times. The Salzburg museum opened in 1984, but plans for a museum went back to the 1920ies.
I arrived a bit late in the afternoon and could not visit some of the more remote houses – the area is rather large (50 ha.) – but I caught a good impression of Alpine architecture which is quite different from the houses in northern Germany displayed in Molfsee/Kiel, or Scandinavian buildings. The advantage of the late hour was that there were few visitors around.
I'll leave you with another photo of the old town left of the Salzach and the fortress behind. The salt mines in the surroundings which indirectly influenced the history of Salzburg will get a post of their own.
