2023-12-23 09:12:59
The Salzburger Land region
On the map, the Austrian state of Salzburg looks like a sofa cushion with a deep crease. This bend is a part of Bavaria that protrudes like a wedge into Salzburg. The border was only drawn in 1816; before that, the state of Salzburg also included areas west of the Salzach River, which are now Bavarian.
Both federal states are closely linked economically and in terms of transport technology – there is even a popular “shortcut” via Bavarian territory between the greater Salzburg area and western Austria. Historically, the salt trade, as the name of the area suggests, played a major role.
Today, salt is no longer mined in Salzburger Land, but there is the Salzburger Salzwelten, a show mine with three locations where visitors can learn everything about salt mining and salt production.
Tourism is now one of the state’s most important economic sectors, with the number of summer visitors clearly exceeding the number of winter visitors. Many come in the summer to the Salzburg Festival, a world-class classical music festival. Of course it has that too Thanks to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who was born in Salzburg in 1756 and played and composed magically as a child.
Source: Infographic WELT
His birthplace in the old town shows original documents, paintings and his children’s violin; it is one of the most visited museums in Austria. Salzburg also likes to adorn itself with its most famous son: the local university for music, acting and directing is called the Mozarteum, the Mozarteum Foundation organizes Mozart concerts – and what is the name of the best orchestra in the city? That’s right: Mozarteum Orchestra Salzburg.
This unique profession requires a head for heights
Salzburg’s urban area is peppered with peaks, some of which are quite steep: Mönchsberg, Festungsberg, Kapuzinerberg, Rainberg, Gaisberg. This geological peculiarity has given rise to a profession in the city that only exists here: the Bergputzer.
This is the name of the specialists who regularly check the many urban rocks and slopes for loose rock that threatens to crash down and which they remove with hammers and crowbars. They also prune or remove bushes and trees that sprout from rock niches.
Mountain cleaner on Kapuziner Berg: This job is unique in Salzburg
Quelle: Christian Kerber/laif
In winter they also have to knock off icicles. Every mountain cleaner works with safety ropes and a helmet – and above all has to be free from dizziness.
The highest mountain has shrunk
The Großvenediger, the highest mountain in the Salzburger Land, measures 17 meters less than it did 40 years ago. In the 1980s its summit was 3,674 meters above sea level. A. stated that it has now shrunk to 3657 meters.
The reason for this is the ongoing retreat of glaciers at the mountain top – due to global warming, the glacier ice that had previously been measured to determine the summit height has melted significantly.
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In 2012, the summit cross, which had previously been anchored in the ice, was in danger of toppling. Mountain rescue volunteers were able to prevent this: They flew to the summit in a helicopter and moved the head-high cross to stable, rocky, ice-free ground 17 meters lower.
The height indication is “meters above sea level”. In Austria, A.” stands for “meters above the Adriatic”; it dates back to the times of the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy, when the country still had access to the sea.
The quote
“There are many Mozartkugeln – but only one original!”
That’s what Martin Fürst says, who has been running the Fürst pastry shop since 2015, which his great-great-grandfather Paul Fürst opened in Salzburg in 1884. In 1890, the master confectioner invented the now world-famous Mozartkugel, a delicacy made from marzipan with pistachios, covered in nougat and dark chocolate.
Paul Fürst opened the Fürst pastry shop in Salzburg in 1884. In 1890, the master confectioner invented the now world-famous Mozartkugel
Source: picture alliance/CHROMORANGE/Weingartner photo
The Fürsts were unable to prevent other manufacturers from also putting Mozartkugeln on the market (there are more than a dozen copyists in Austria and Germany), but the Fürst-Nascherei is the only one that can be called “Original Mozartkugel”.
You can recognize it by this lettering and the cover in silver and blue, but also by the “chocolate gupf”: To create the praline without a base, i.e. spherical, it is placed on a stick and dipped in chocolate; the hole in the stick becomes after it has dried Closed by hand with chocolate – a slight dent is created, the “Gupf”.
In a Mozart ball test by the Austrian newspaper “Der Standard”, the Fürst original received more than the top grade: 5 out of 4 (actually) possible balls.
Probably Europe’s oldest restaurant
The St. Peter Stiftskulinarium” in Salzburg advertises itself as the oldest restaurant in Europe. It was mentioned in a document as early as 803 AD, it is still in operation and embedded in the Abbey of St. Peter, where the restaurant occupies eleven historical rooms, including the baroque hall.
A Mozart dinner based on historical recipes is served here several times a week, always with Salzburg dumplings as dessert. Otherwise, Austrian and international dishes are on the menu, from boiled beef to truffle tagliolini.
Dine in a historical ambience: the baroque hall of the “St. Peter Stiftskulinarium”
Quelle: mauritius images/Georg Berg
Salzburg can boast of another historic restaurant: The “Tomaselli”, founded in 1700, is Austria’s oldest coffee house, a meeting place for the upper middle class and famous for its sensational selection of cakes.
A Christmas song in Klingon
The most famous Christmas carol in the world was first heard in 1818 in the St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf near Salzburg: Silent Night, Holy Night by organist Franz Xaver Gruber and assistant priest Joseph Mohr, who wrote the text as a poem.
The song first thrilled Christmas mass visitors and was sung and spread by Tyrolean folk singers from 1819 onwards. There is evidence of a performance in Leipzig in 1832 and in New York in 1839.
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In 1866 it was officially included in the Salzburg hymn book. To date, “Silent Night” has been translated into more than 300 languages and dialects, including Latin, Frisian, Maori and the Star Trek language Klingon, in which the song is called “tam ram, pachtI ram.”
An estimated two billion people worldwide and an unknown number of aliens sing it at Christmas; It has been on the UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage List since 2011.
It stands on the site of the former St. Nicholas Church (St. Nikola), where the Christmas carol was performed for the first time on December 24, 1818
Quelle: Fuermann, H./juniors@wildlife
The church in which the global hit was premiered no longer stands, but the Silent Night Chapel was inaugurated in 1936, today one of the area’s main attractions.
Bizarre, record-breaking, typical: You can find further parts of our regional studies series here.
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In order to display embedded content, your revocable consent to the transmission and processing of personal data is necessary, as the providers of the embedded content require this consent as third party providers [In diesem Zusammenhang können auch Nutzungsprofile (u.a. auf Basis von Cookie-IDs) gebildet und angereichert werden, auch außerhalb des EWR]. By setting the switch to “on”, you agree to this (revocable at any time). This also includes your consent to the transfer of certain personal data to third countries, including the USA, in accordance with Art. 49 (1) (a) GDPR. You can find more information about this. You can revoke your consent at any time using the switch and privacy at the bottom of the page.
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