Residenzplatz (Residence Square)
Residenzplatz (Residence Square), a large, stately especially magnificent forecourt in the historic centre (Altstadt), is one of the city’s most popular places to visit. It was named after the Residenz building of the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg, adjacent to and enclosed by Salzburg Cathedral (Salzburger Dom) in the south, the Alte Residenz in the west and the Renaissance–style Neue Residenz (New Residence, erected from 1588 onwards), with its prominent bell tower, in the east.
Check out “Salzburg Cathedral” and “Residenz Palace“
To the north, several historic bürgerhäuser (private houses) frame the square among them the temporary home, at No. 2, of the Baroque painter Johann Michael Rottmayr where, around 1690, he stayed while creating the ceiling frescoes in the Alte Residenz . The adjacent Mozartplatz leads to the Salzburg Museum.
Check out “Mozartplatz”
The setting for the annual kermesse (Kirtag), celebrating the feast of Saint Rupert on September 24, and the Salzburg Christmas market during Advent, Residenzplatz is also a popular venue for big sports or music events, including public airings of football games, live rock concerts in the 1980s and 1990s (Joe Cocker, Tina Turner, Neil Young, etc.) and New Year’s Eve parties. Every summer (July and August), the square is also transformed into an open air cinema where, typically, taped performances of the Salzburg Festival are shown.
Alte Residenz Building
From 1587 onwards, the Residenzplatz, probably the largest and most beautiful of the five squares built at the behest of Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau, was laid out, Then called Hauptplatz (“Main Square”), the new public plaza corresponded with the reconstruction of Salzburg Cathedral, according to the Mannerist plans laid out by the Italian architect Vincenzo Scamozzi.
Neue Residenz
Von Raitenau ordered the cemetery of the former medieval monastery north of Salzburg Cathedral abandoned (remnants of the cemetery were recently discovered underneath the square’s surface). Fifty-five medieval buildings were also torn down to provide space for the square.
Residenzbrunnen (Residence Fountain)
The Residenzbrunnen (Residence Fountain), the richly decorated fountain in the center of the square, was commissioned by Archbishop Guidobald von Thun, a fountain enthusiast, designed by Tommaso di Garona and was erected with Untersberg limestone (Untersberger Marmor) between 1656 and 1661.
Two of the four horse statues on the fountain
Considered to be the most beautiful fountain in the city of Salzburg and the largest and most significant Baroque fountain in Central Europe, it has four snorting horses seem to spring forth from the spouting rock plus giants, rooted in the rock, carrying the lower basin.
Statues of giants carrying the lower basin
Three dolphins balance the scalloped upper basin which is topped by a Triton statue ejecting the waters upwards into the air from his conch-shell trumpet.
The scalloped upper basin with the statue of Triton
In the Hollywood movie The Sound of Music, as Maria leaves to take up her post with the Von Trapp family, I Have Confidence in Me was filmed in the Residenzplatz, through which Maria enters, and the Residenzbrunnen, in which she splashes. Also, during their carriage ride through the city, Maria and the children sing as they pass the fountain. The Anschluss scene (Austria’s enforced unity with Nazi Germany) was staged in the Residenzplatz.
Check out “Original Sound of Music Tour”
Bird’s eye view of the square
Relatively recently, a patch of the original river-stone surface was revealed, prompting the city to overhaul and refurbished the Residenzplatz completely with the addition of new paving and a monument commemorating a Nazi book burning conducted at the site on April 30, 1938.