Top Historic Sights in Salzburg, Austria
Explore the historic highlights of Salzburg
Salzburg Residenz
For centuries the Archbishops of Salzburg resided at the Salzburg Residenz and used the palace to present and represent their political status. Today the Salzburg Residenz palace is a museum and one of the most impressive attractions in the city. The earliest recorded reference to the bishop"s palace was in a document dated 1232. Construction began under Archbishop Konrad I. In the 16th century, several changes and ...
Founded: 1596 |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Historic Centre of Salzburg
Salzburg's Old Town (Altstadt) is internationally renowned for its baroque architecture and is one of the best-preserved city centers north of the Alps. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997. Salzburg is an outstanding example of an ecclesiastical city-state, peculiar to the Holy Roman Empire, from Prussia to Italy. Most disappeared as political and administrative units in the early 19th century and adopt ...
Founded: 1st century AD |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Salzburg Cathedral
Salzburg"s Cathedral is probably the city"s most significant piece of church architecture and its ecclesiastical center. With its magnificent façade and mighty dome it represents the most impressive early Baroque edifice north of the Alps. The cathedral origin is closely connected to the ecclesiastical principality"s demeanour and growth. Destroyed by fire and rebuilt, enlarged and expanded, it bear ...
Founded: 774 AD |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Hohensalzburg Castle
Hohensalzburg Castle is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe. Construction of the fortress began in 1077 under Archbishop Gebhard von Helfenstein. In the Holy Roman Empire, the archbishops of Salzburg were already powerful political figures and they expanded the castle to protect their interests. Gebhard"s conflict with Emperor Henry IV during the Investiture Controversy influenced the expansion of the castl ...
Founded: 1077 |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Franciscan Church
The Franciscan Church (Franziskanerkirche) is one of the oldest churches in Salzburg. The first church on this site was built in the eighth century during the time of Saint Virgil, who may have used it for baptisms. A document from 1139 mentions a parish church on this site. That church was destroyed by fire in 1167, together with five other churches, including the cathedral. Starting in 1208, the central nave of the chur ...
Founded: 1208 |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
St Peter's Abbey
St Peter's Abbey is a Benedictine monastery and former cathedral in Salzburg. It is considered one of the oldest monasteries in the German-speaking area, and in fact the oldest with a continuous history. St Peter's Abbey was founded in 696 by Saint Rupert at the site of a Late Antique church stemming from the first Christianization in the area. Likewise the establishment of the monastery was meant to forward the missionar ...
Founded: 696 AD |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Mozart's Birthplace
Salzburg’s Wunderkind – Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart – was born in what is known as the Hagenauer House at no. 9 Getreidegasse on the 27th January 1756. He lived there with his sister Nannerl and his parents until 1773. Mozart’s Geburtshaus now houses a museum open all year round. Mozart’s Geburtshaus guides guests through the original rooms in which the Mozart family lived and presents a range of artefacts, includi ...
Founded: 1756 |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Petersfriedhof
The Petersfriedhof or St. Peter"s Cemetery is - together with the burial site at Nonnberg Abbey - the oldest cemetery in Salzburg. It is one of Salzburg"s most popular tourist attractions. Its origins date back to about 700, when the adjacent St. Peter"s Abbey was established by Saint Rupert of Salzburg. The abbey"s cemetery, probably at the site of an even earlier burial place, was first mentioned in ...
Founded: 700 AD |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Collegiate Church
The Kollegienkirche was built between 1694 and 1707 for the local Benedictine university founded in 1622. The university was disbanded in 1810 but reopened in 1962 as part of the University of Salzburg. Certainly the largest and best Salzburg church designed by Erlach (who also built the Holy Trinity Church and renovated the Franciscan Church), the Collegiate Church is also one of the most celebrated Baroque churches in ...
Founded: 1694-1707 |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Mirabell Palace
Mirabell Palace with its gardens is part of the Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg UNESCO World Heritage Site. The palace was built about 1606 on the shore of the Salzach river north of the medieval city walls, at the behest of Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau. The Archbishop suffered from gout and had a stroke the year before; to evade the narrow streets of the city, he decided to erect a pleasure palace for ...
Founded: 1606 |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Holy Trinity Church
The Holy Trinity Church was built in the years 1694–1702. Authority of the church and the seminary was the founder Prince Archbishop Johann Ernst von Thun. The church, together with the same time build St. John's Church (hospital church) the first building designed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach in Salzburg. He used as models various religious buildings in Rome—especially Francesco Borromini's Church Sant'Agnes ...
Founded: 1694-1702 |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Mozart's Residence
In 1773, after the house in which Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart had been born became too small, the entire Mozart family moved across the river to the Tanzmeisterhaus on the square then known as Hannibalplatz. The building now accommodates a museum showing the various stations of the lives of the Mozart family. The building is now commonly known as Mozarts Wohnhaus and no-one knows where Hannibalplatz is as its latter-day name ...
Founded: 1617 |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Hellbrunn Palace
Between 1612 and 1615, Salzburg’s prince-archbishop Markus Sittikus commissioned the building of a summer residence at the foot of Hellbrunn mountain, a location already abundant in naturally flowing waters. Based on Italian models and in a relatively short period of time, an architectural jewel had been created, still reckoned amongst the most magnificent Renaissance buildings north of the Alps. Hellbrunn was only mean ...
Founded: 1612-1619 |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Capuchin Monastery
The Kapuzinerkloster are located on a mountain facing the old town if Salzburg: the Kapuzinerberg mountain, named after the abbey. There are two scenic routes leading to it: via the Imbergstiege off Steingasse and the romantic St. Johannes Church; this little church that is often missed by visitors is on one of Salzburg′s most picturesque spots and was recorded for the first time in the early 14th century. Prince Archb ...
Founded: 1594 |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
St. Mark's Church
St. Mark"s Church (Markuskirche) near the Klaus Gate at the foot of the Mönchsberg is a masterpiece of baroque architecture: the cornerstone for the Ursuline Convent church was laid in 1699. A smaller church located on the same site was destroyed by a disastrous rockfall from the Mönchsberg thirty years before. At the time of its construction, raising a building on the small strip of land between the Mö ...
Founded: 1699 |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Edmundsburg
Edmundsburg spans over three floors and is cubic with a small, central dome. It can be spotted easily from about anywhere in the old town, especially the Salzburger Dom. Abbot Edmund Sinnhuber of St. Peter′s Abbey built the Edmundsburg Castle in 1696 and it remained the property of the abbey until 1834. After that, it became the site of a well-known school for boys. Until 2008, the Edmundsburg Castle held some offi ...
Founded: 1696 |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Nonnberg Abbey
Nonnberg Abbey is a Benedictine monastery in Salzburg founded ca. 714 by Saint Rupert of Salzburg. It is the oldest women's religious house in the German-speaking world. Its first abbess was Saint Erentrudis of Salzburg, who was either a niece or a sister of Saint Rupert. The abbey was independent of the founding house from 987 and was re-built in about 1000. This building was largely destroyed in a fire of 1423. Reconst ...
Founded: ca. 714 AD |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
St. Cajetan Church
In 1591 Archbishop Wolf Dietrich purchased a hospital and church in today"s Kai District to establish a seminary. It was to be managed by an order of Theatine monks, founded by St. Cajetan and Pietro Caraffa in 1524. The order was brought to Salzburg in 1685 to found a new mission. Shortly thereafter a decision was reached to build a church and abbey in the Kai District at the very same location. Gaspare Zugalli was ...
Founded: 1685-1696 |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Franziskischlössl
The Franziskischlössl ('Francis′ Castle') is a defence tower that was part of the 17th century city walls of Salzburg. It was built by the cathedral architect, Santino Solari, from 1622-1629. The Franziskischlössl is situated at the most exposed point of Mount Kapuzinerberg, home to an inn and a very popular hiking trip destination.
Founded: 1622-1629 |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Freisaal Castle
The scenic Freisaal Castle dates from the Middle ages. The oldest record of the building dates back to 1392. The name is derived from 'Freudensaal', meaning 'pleasure hall'. Its original purpose was just that: to serve as a pleasure castle for Prince Archbishop Pilgrim II. von Puchheim. Ernst von Bayern re-modelled the building in 1549. A fundamental change in the building′s structures was cause ...
Founded: 14th century |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Schloss Aigen
Schloss Aigen is an old noble residence in the south of the city of Salzburg. The history of estate dates from the 15th century, but current buildings were built after 1614. The castle, church, an old cemetery and annex buildings still remain. Today Schloss Aigen is a restaurant and hosts weddings and other events.
Founded: 1614 |
Location:
Salzburg, Austria
Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings
Historic Site of the week
Lübeck Cathedral
Lübeck Cathedral is a large brick-built Lutheran cathedral in Lübeck, Germany and part of the Lübeck UNESCO World Heritage Site. In 1173 Henry the Lion founded the cathedral to serve the Diocese of Lübeck, after the transfer in 1160 of the bishop's seat from Oldenburg in Holstein under bishop Gerold. The then Romanesque cathedral was completed around 1230, but between 1266 and 1335 it was converted into a Gothic-style building with side-aisles raised to the same height as the main aisle.
On the night of Palm Sunday (28–29 March) 1942 a Royal Air Force bombing raid destroyed a fifth of the town centre. Several bombs fell in the area around the church, causing the eastern vault of the quire to collapse and destroying the altar which dated from 1696. A fire from the neighbouring cathedral museum spread to the truss of the cathedral, and around noon on Palm Sunday the towers collapsed. An Arp Schnitger organ was lost in the flames. Nevertheless, a relatively large portion of the internal fittings was saved, including the cross and almost all of the medieval polyptychs. In 1946 a further collapse, of the gable of the north transept, destroyed the vestibule almost completely.
Reconstruction of the cathedral took several decades, as greater priority was given to the rebuilding of the Marienkirche. Work was completed only in 1982.
The cathedral is unique in that at 105 m, it is shorter than the tallest church in the city. This is the consequence of a power struggle between the church and the guilds.
The 17 m crucifix is the work of the Lübeck artist Bernt Notke. It was commissioned by the bishop of Lübeck, Albert II. Krummendiek, and erected in 1477. The carvings which decorate the rood screen are also by Notke.
Since the war, the famous altar of Hans Memling has been in the medieval collection of the St. Annen Museum, but notable polyptychs remain in the cathedral.
In the funeral chapels of the southern aisle are Baroque-era memorials by the Flemish sculptor Thomas Quellinus.