My 200th Update from the Road brings Salzburg’s famous DomQuartier.
In my last post on Salzburg, I skipped a major part of the historic city center of Salzburg, Austria. That was the DomQuartier (Cathedral district).
What is the DomQuartier? Today, it is a very large museum complex that is situated in a very large building interconnected building complex. In this complex is a palace, cathedral, an abbey, a cemetery, at least one other church and a large museum connecting all that together for the most part around a bunch of courtyards. It’s arranged a lot like a gigantic palace, but not all of it was a palace. And not all of it is a museum. It’s confusing.
I’m just going to run through the museum complex and all that is technically connected to it. This is in no particular order.
The Cathedral of Salzburg is on the left and the Salzburg Residenz is on the right.
The inner courtyard of the Salzburg Residenz. It was the home of the Prince-Archbishops, who ruled Salzburg. It was actively sleeting when I took this photo.
I did not visit the museum in proper order. Don’t know how, but I did. So, skipping ahead to the normal starting point, so this will make sense.
Carabinieri-Saal (Carabinieri Hall) was the result of the modernization efforts of the 18th century.
I don’t know the original use of this room is, but it is now used for concerts.
The Conference Hall. There were probably some sort of conferences held here.
All doorways must line up in palaces. That is a secret rule.
I think this is the Audience Hall. I’m quite a fan of that floor.
I’m going to guess that this was some sort of study or office.
Everything is grand in this palace, except for the ruler’s bed.
Bildergalerie. It has art in it.
I’m really digging that wallpaper.
The normal route for the DomQuartier Museum starts in the Residenz. I started instead upstairs in the Residenz Gallery. Normal art in there, so I’m going to skip it.
To get to the Cathedral Museum, you have to walk outside. It just happened to be snowing. If you visit this museum in the winter, bring a coat.
Domplatz and its lovely, covered fountain.
The Cathedral Museum has the usual findings of a church museum. Plus, it has some lovely ceilings.
First look at the cathedral. You have to pass through the cathedral to continue on in the museum.
This is a recreation of a cabinet, an old fashioned way to display weird artifacts. The cabinets themselves are original, but not all of the artifacts inside were part of the original collection. It was also colder in this room that it was outside. Somehow.
There is a collection of art past that doorway that is from the Abbey of St. Peter. No cameras allowed, so moving ahead to the cathedral.
The Cathedral of Salzburg is a grand 17th century Baroque building. You can’t be a proper Prince-Bishop without a giant cathedral.
I stumbled in during an organ concert on accident. It was a pleasant accident.
Looking back to that balcony that I was on just a bit earlier.
The ceilings of the chapels are just ridiculous.
I stand corrected. The ENTIRE church is ridiculous.
Very fancy altar.
An extremely fancy ceiling.
Moving on to St. Peter’s Abbey’s Church, which has its own courtyard.
Lots of paintings in this one.
The gate to St. Peter’s Abbey’s Cemetery.
It’s cute.
It even has its own little chapel, Margarethenkapelle.
Built in 1491.
Back in front of St. Peter’s Church, heading towards that bell tower.
Franziskaner Kirche (Franciscan Church). This church actually shares a wall with the Residenz. We’ve basically just gone in a big circle.
It’s fairly dramatic and very Gothic. I don’t know if I have ever seen a ceiling quite like that before.
Another courtyard but with a weird head sculpture. I swear I’ve seen a sculpture just like that somewhere else.
Salzburg was fantastic. Until I got to Prague, it was my favorite place so far. I can’t really say why but I just really liked it.
I only showed a small bit of the DomQuartier Museum and any of the other museums that can be found in Salzburg. You can easily spend a couple of days in Salzburg and that doesn’t even include a trip out to the mountains.
Check out my next update where I explore the grand city of Vienna!
or
Start at the beginning of this adventure in Zurich!
