Mozart Statue
It was the perfect day for a tour - sunny and warm, with a breeze drifting through the Salzburg. We set out from our hotel on Aigner Strasse and headed to Old City, crossing the big bridge to meet our tour guide near the Mozart monument. Our guide wore lederhosen, the traditional Austrian clothing for men, and told us a brief history of Salzburg. Near the Mozart monument was a large fountain in the Italian style, and it is easily the most beautiful fountain in Salzburg. Our guide told us that Italy has heavily influenced Austrian art and architecture, and many of the sites we visited were reminiscent of something we would see in Rome.
Fountain outside the Dome
We walked through the Dome, the largest cathedral in Salzburg, and the church where Mozart was the organist. In the foyer is a baptismal where Mozart was most likely baptized; it is a conglomeration of eras, with pieces from Roman times all the way to the 1950s when the lid was reconstructed after WWII. Not only did the cathedral have five organs, but the walls and ceilings were covered in intricate paintings depicting the life of Christ. Walking down the aisle and standing beneath the dome that seemed to reach the sky was humbling, and immediately we felt surrounded by the rich history of Christianity. After the Dome, our guide took us to see the oldest bakery in Salzburg; the smell of sweet bread wafted up from the bakery and into the sunlight, and we knew we’d be back to buy some later! We walked through St. Peter's cemetery, and there is nothing like it in America. It was more like a beautiful, immaculately kept garden than a cemetery, with festooning flowers, green grass, and winding cobblestone paths. The grave markers were small and artistic, not large stone, and not one of them was neglected. Windows lined the walls of the mountain, and our guide told us that monks would escape to these rooms hidden in the mountains for certain religious practices. There was an air of rich history and romance in the cemetery, and we could have spent hours reading the stones and wondering about the people’s lives.
One of the five organs in the Dome
From here we went to St. Peter’s church, but this time it was in the rococo style - gold and elaborate sculptures covered the walls and pillars. Outside this church we were pleasantly surprised by a visiting women’s choir. Their concert dress was very different from ours; most wore long white dresses, and some wore black suits. After they performed a piece for us, we went to the Mirabell Gardens. This was by far one of the most beautiful places, with its fountain and large pool, tree-lined walkway, and flower gardens. The gardeners had mixed thyme and sage with bright red begonias and yellow daisies, reminding us that often gardens were seen as beautiful as well as practical. Here we found the steps that Maria von Trapp in “Sound of Music” dances on. As Susanna Young, a senior Art Major at Gordon College said, “Salzburg is a foreign city to me, but its beauty and romance makes it feel familiar.”
Fountain in the Mirabell Gardens
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