From Michaelsplatz to Mozartplatz: How Salzburg's Square Found Its Name
Mozartplatz is younger than it looks, and for most of its existence it answered to a different name.
A square cleared for open space
There was nothing accidental about this open space. In the baroque era, one of Salzburg's prince-archbishops ordered several houses on the site torn down. The square later became known as St. Michaelsplatz, probably after the nearby church of St. Michael; from 1728, the Michaelsbrunnen, topped by a figure of St. Michael, stood on the square. That fountain was the centerpiece for generations, and the name held.
The monument that arrived a year late
Salzburg was slow to celebrate its most famous son. The plan was to unveil the Mozart monument on the 50th anniversary of the composer's death, its bronze figure modeled by sculptor Ludwig Schwanthaler and its marble pedestal a gift from a Mozart-loving Bavarian king. Then the ground got in the way. During excavation for the foundation, workers uncovered a genuine Roman mosaic floor, a reminder that Salzburg sits on the old Roman town of Iuvavum. Recovering it carefully pushed the unveiling back by a full year, to 1842. Mozart's two sons attended the ceremony; his widow, who had lived on this very square, had died only months earlier. The Michaelsbrunnen was moved in 1841 to make room for the Mozart monument; the square itself was officially renamed Mozartplatz in 1849, seven years after the statue was unveiled.
The houses that ring the square
The buildings around the edge carry as much history as the monument. On the south side stands the Neue Residenz, once an archbishop's palace and home to the Salzburg Museum; its tower holds Salzburg's 35-bell carillon. One of the houses was for a time the home of Mozart's widow, marked today by a plaque. The low Imhofstöckl on the north side houses the city's tourist information office, with a surviving stretch of the old city wall tucked behind it. West, toward the cathedral, you'll find the Salzburg Christmas Museum.
