Two masterful directors worked their magic in Salzburg, first Nature, then architecture
SALZBURG- under the protection of the holy mountain
The first pre-Christian inhabitants of Salzburg lived at the foot of a
special mountain, for the“ Gais” part of the Gaisberg, Salzburg’ s famous local peak, actually means“ holy” in Celtic. With their raised, easily guarded location in the south of today’ s city, the Rainberg and Hellbrunner Berg were the first places of settlement. The Celts were followed by the Romans. Two missionaries, Rupert and Virgil, also stand at the beginnings of this newly founded city which, to this day, due to its later baroque appearance, is nicknamed the“ Rome of the North”.
1800 TO 1000 B. C.( Bronze Age): copper and bronze production in Mühlbach am Hochkönig. 500 B. C.: Invasion of the Celts, who subjugated the resident Illyrians. The Celts bring the salt trade to its prime and form the aristocratic upper class in the Celtic kingdom of Noricum( Celtic names like Anif, Morzg). 15 B. C.: The Romans occupy the country. In the now Roman province, Juvavum( Salzburg City) becomes centre of administration and traffic in the first and second cent. A. D.: Roman settlement and culture remain for over 400 years, and the resident Celtic population becomes completely romanized. 5TH CENT.: The Roman Empire collapses. King Odoaker orders the expatriation of all Roman settlers to Italy in 488 and the city declines. A small settlement on the Nonnberg survives the tribal migrations and remains intact up to the Middle Ages. 530 Bavarians( Bajuwarii) and Germanic tribes come to Salzburg and take possession of the owner-less territory. 696 The Frankish preacher Rupert comes and receives the rest of Juvavum as a present from Duke Theodo of Bavaria. In 744, St. Rupert founds the convent on the Nonnberg(» Nun’ s Mountain «), the oldest in the German-speaking world. 755: The name » Salzburg « appears for the first time in the biography of St. Boniface. 774: Consecration of the cathedral, which was built by the missionary Virgil – a man with Irish- Scottish roots. 798: Salzburg becomes an archbishopric and accumulates large amounts of territory in the following centuries. Bishop patronage, commercial prosperity, much missionary work extending to Pannonia( Hungary, Slovakia). 987: Cluny’ s reformation movement becomes apparent: St. Peter’ s Monastery is separated from the bishopric( archbishop). St. Peter has its own abbot and its own possessions and territory. 996: Rights to a daily market, coinage and excise taxes are granted. 1077. Building of Hohensalzburg Fortress is begun because of the danger caused by the investiture struggles between the emperor and the pope. 1167: The city is burned down by the Dukes of Plain from Grossgmain by order of Emperor Frederick I » Barbarossa «, punishment since Archbishop Konrad refuses to acknowledge the emperor’ s chosen pope. 12TH CENT. Archbishop Konrad I founds and reforms abbeys in Berchtesgaden, St. Zeno near Bad Reichenhall and Herrenchiemsee. 1184: The title » Legate of the Holy See « is bestowed upon the archbishop, giving him the right he still enjoys today, of wearing the same colors as a cardinal. 1215: Archbishop Eberhard II first founds the Chiemsee bishopric, then Seckau and Lavant, and appoints bishops(= unique under canon law). The diocese extends from the Zillertal of Tyrol to Carinthia and to Wiener Neustadt( Lower Austria), and to the River Inn in the northwest. Over the centuries, the archbishops become sovereigns due to three factors: large properties, supreme power( mining law, right of coinage and duty), county and judicial rights( 1278). The archbishops mine for salt, gold, silver, copper and iron, gaining great commercial and political power. 1278: Salzburg’ s city walls are built. In the 13th cent. Salzburg fights at the side of Rudolf of Habsburg against Ottokar of Bohemia and plays an important part in establishing the Habsburgs as Austria’ s ruling dynasty. Since 1312, the cathedral chapter has elected the archbishop, ensuring that a different family is elected each time, so that no dynasty gains too much power and the principality does not fall under the influence of Bavaria or Habsburg. The city possesses » staple rights «: Travelling merchants provide vital goods.( Waagplatz 1, Getreidegasse 18 – 22). 1525 AND 1526 Peasants’ Revolts. Archbishop Lang flees to the fortress and is besieged for 14 weeks( the citizens form an alliance with the peasants and open the gates to the city). 1587: At the age of 18, Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau is elected archbishop( remaining so until 1612). He is responsible for many of the most important buildings in Salzburg today. After defeat in a dispute over control of the salt trade with Duke Maximilian II of Bavaria, he was imprisoned in 1611 in Fortress Hohensalzburg for the five years preceding his death in 1617. 1588: Expulsion of protestant citizenry. 1600: Salzburg has 7,000 inhabitants. 1614: First performance of an Italian opera north of the Alps in the Carabinieri Hall of the Residenz. 1623: The university is opened( closed in 1810);