Salzburg - City of Mozart

Date of visit: 13th April 2014

It was a great feeling waking up in early morning been in another city though in the same country, Austria. We were in a busy city of Vienna a day before and was in a quite, peaceful town of Mozart, Salzburg the next day, i.e.  Sunday. It was nice to have a different day in a different city. After breakfast we went straight ahead crossing the bridge over Salzach River to the old city of Salzburg. Before I went further, let's look what Wikipedia has said about Salzburg and Mozart in their website. 

Photo courtesy of Andreas Stiasny, Wikipedia

The city of Salzburg is a historic centre and being recognised by UNESCO as World Heritage Site, inscribed on the World Heritage List being an old town. The name literally means "Salt Fortress" and is the 4^th largest city in Austria and the capital of the federal state of Salzburg. 4 of us were in the same view, that Salzburg is a very quiet city as in comparison walking the busy street in Vienna. For the record, we did not even take any public transport to visit all places as listed in our itinerary.

Salzburg is famously known as the city of Mozart where you can see its presence everywhere in the town since it was the birthplace of 18th-century composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In the mid‑20th century, the city was the setting for parts of the musical play and film The Sound of Music.

Mozart's birthplace was the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart at No. 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg, Austria. The Mozart family resided on the third floor from 1747 to 1773; Mozart himself was born here on 27 January 1756. He was the seventh child of Leopold Mozart who was a musician of the Salzburg Royal Chamber.

Since 1880, Mozart's birthplace introduces visitors to the early life of the composer, his first musical instruments, his friends and his passionate interest in opera as it turned as a museum.  The third floor exhibits Mozart's childhood violin, harpsichord, as well as portraits, documents, family letters, and early editions of his music. There are also records of his life in Vienna and of his wife and family. The second floor is devoted to Mozart's interest in opera and includes the clavichord on which he composed The Magic Flute. The first floor replicates living conditions in Mozart's day with period furniture. Original documents and paintings illustrate his life in Salzburg. Other items in the museum are an incomplete portrait of Mozart painted by Joseph Lange, his brother-in-law in 1789 (one of Mozart's striking portraits), pictures of his childhood, and his childhood violin

Mozart Wohnhaus was the last place that we visited and it was very brief too as we have a train to catch-up that evening. In addition, we were so stressed out with the photos and the walks. Please take note that you have to pay an entrance fee to this place.

The back courtyard where Mozart spent his time

The Mozarthaus Vienna was Mozart's residence from 1784 to 1787. This building in Vienna's Old Town, not far from St. Stephen's Cathedral, is his only surviving Viennese residence and is now a museum. The house is located on Domgasse. It was built in the 17th century, originally with two storeys, and redeveloped in 1716. Mozart rented rooms here from 1784, at which time it was also known as the Camesina House, after the family which had owned it since 1720. Since the original entrance of the house facing the Schulerstraße (the one Mozart used) was walled up to make room for a shop, the house has to be entered today from its rear in the Domgasse.

I was the only 1 who insisted to explore the house in more details despite little time has left before we need to go back and cleared our luggage from the hotel. The other 3 did not follow my lead this time, they cunningly waited outside making a joke about my passion. With a heavy heart, I had to gave up. Nevertheless, I bought sufficient momentous from Salzburg to remind myself that I have indeed been in the place where he used to stay.

To be continued..