DomQuartier Salzburg

The DomQuartier tour offers an incomparable combination of 1300 years of reigning power, art, music and architecture.

Over centuries, the Old Residenz was the official seat and prestigious headquarters of the prince-archbishops. The state-rooms reflect two centuries of art and design history, from the Renaissance through the Baroque, to Classicism. In addition, they are an authentic experiential place in Salzburg's musical history: The first opera north of the Alps was performed in the Carabinierisaal. Wolfgang Amadé Mozart gave his first Salzburg court concert in the Konferenzzimmer at the age of seven. As court musician to the prince-archbishop, he composed for these rooms and performed in them himself - they were, along with the cathedral, his immediate sphere of professional activity.

The Residenzgalerie, founded in 1923, holds alternating exhibitions of 16th-19-century masterworks of Dutch, Italian, French and Austrian painting.

The Cathedral archway terrace, which links the Residenz with the Cathedral, offers an incomparable view of the baroque heart of Salzburg. The transformation of Salzburg into a prestigious baroque city with Italian flair began around 1600 under Prince Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau and was continued and completed by his successors. A digitally animated video depicting Salzburg's architectural history is on display in the cathedral archway.

In four adjoining rooms in the North Oratory of the Cathedral, alternating exhibitions are held. The stucco-work dates from 1628, the year the baroque Cathedral was consecrated. Of particular interest is St Rupert's Oratory, where the altar and ceiling paintings show scenes from the life of St Rupert.

The DomQuartier tour leads through the main organ loft, offering splendid a view of the entire interior of the Cathedral – one of the most magnificent monumental buildings of the Early Baroque.

The Cathedral Museum in the South Oratory, opened in 1974, shows art treasures from 1,300 years of ecclesiastical history. Its chief exhibit is the Cathedral treasure. Precious liturgical objects such as chalices, monstrances and chasubles are on display, as well as Gothic and Baroque paintings and sculptures from Salzburg's churches and monasteries.  The most outstanding exhibit is the Cross of St Rupert, the largest surviving early mediaeval metal cross. It is considered one of the oldest known Christian works of art in Austria.

The Cabinet of Curiosities, installed by Prince Archbishop Guidobald Graf Thun, was designed to impress not only state visitors with exotic or bizarre objects from the spheres of art, nature and technology, thus demonstrating the territory's wealth. The marble floor, ceiling stucco and showcases are all original. In 1974, purchases and loans enabled the reconstruction of the Cabinet of Curiosities in the style of a baroque Wunderkammer.

The 70m-long Lange Galerie, decorated with elaborate ceiling stucco, is considered one of the earliest gallery buildings north of the Alps. Until secularisation in 1803, it served to exhibit the archiepiscopal painting collection. Hanging here today are large-scale paintings from the art collection of St Peter's Archabbey.

St. Peter's Museum, in the Wallis wing of the building, presents selected art treasures from the collection of St Peter's Archabbey, the oldest monastery in the German-speaking world. Alongside liturgical instruments, paintings and musical instruments, the "Mitra pretiosa" (ca. 1480), richly decorated with precious stones and pearls, is one of the jewels in the crown of St Peter's Treasury.

DomQuartier will celebrate its 10th anniversary in 2024 with a series of anniversary events. Here are the highlights:

• Exhibition "Holy Places - Views by Hubert Sattler" in the North Oratory of the Cathedral, from 8 March 2024
• Open day with Venetian polychoral music in the DomQuartier, 11 May 2024
• Exhibition "The Colours of La Serenissima: Venetian masters from Titian to Canaletto" in collaboration with the Kunsthistorisches Museum Vienna, from 21 June 2024
• Apropos 10 years DomQuartier - Conference with music 'The musical life of the Residence and the Cathedral in the light of internationality, 22 November 2024
• Concert - Venetian composers in the DomQuartier, 24 November 2024
• Talking about 10 years of DomQuartier - Lecture 'Salzburg's trade relations in the early modern period', 29 November 2024
• Talk on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of the DomQuartier - Lecture 'Networks of artists active in Salzburg and their works', 6 December 2024