The city is well-known for its baroque architecture, extensive history, and as a gateway to the Alps.
The first settlements at Salzburg were apparently begun by the Celts. Around 15 BC the separate settlements were merged into one city by the Romans. At this time the city was called Juvavum and was awarded the status of a Roman Municipium in 45 AD. Around this time, first records of Jewish settlers appear.
Juvavum developed into an important town of the Roman province of Noricum. A Roman Catholic Diocese was formed in the town around 700, which later became an archdiocese responsible for Bavaria.
The economic wealth of the town during this time was based on salt-mining. Salz is the German word for salt, making the name literally mean "Salt castle". A variant English form of the name is 'Saltsburg'. The town's river was a main artery for transporting salt mined in nearby mountains.
In 1077 the fortress was constructed under the order of Archduke Gebhard.
Until 1803, the Archbishop of Salzburg was the ruler of the city and the surrounding territory. Successive archbishop princes moulded the town, with the most influential being Wolf Dietrich who was largely responsible for the shape of the city today. His influence saw the creation of the towering Salzburg cathedral, the Mirabell Garden, and other landmarks. In 1803, Salzburg became politically a part of Austria, and so it remains to this day.
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After signing the edict on the 214th Anniversary of Reformation Day, Archbishop von Firmian declared that it was to be read publicly November 11, 1731, the 248th anniversary of Luther's baptism. Believing that his edict would drive away a few hundred troublesome infidels in the hills around the town, Firmian was surprised when 21,475 citizens professed on a public list their Protestant beliefs.
Land owners were given three months to sell their lands and leave. Cattle, sheep, furniture and land all had to be dumped on the market, and the Salzburgers received little money from the well-to-do Catholic allies of Von Firmian. Von Firmian himself confiscated much of their land for his own family, and ordered all Protestant books and Bibles burned. Many children aged 12 and under were seized to be raised as Roman Catholics. Yet those who owned land gained one key advantage: the three month deadline delayed their departure until after the worst of winter.
Non-owner farmers, tradesmen, laborers and miners were given only 8 days to sell what they could and leave. The first refugees marched north through the Alps in desperately cold temperatures and snow storms, seeking shelter in the few cities of Germany controlled by Protestant Princes, while their children walked or rode on wooden wagons loaded with baggage.
As they went, the exiles' savings were quickly drained away as they were set upon by both legal and illegal highwaymen, who seized taxes, tolls and payment for protection by soldiers from robbers.
The story of their plight spread quickly as their columns marched north. Goethe wrote the poem Hermann and Dorothea about the Salzburg exiles' march. Protestants and even some Catholics were horrified at the cruelty of their expulsion in winter, and the courage they had shown by not renouncing their faith. Slowly at first, they came upon towns that welcomed them and offered them aid. But there was no place where such a large number of refugees could settle.
Finally, in 1732 Lutheran King Frederick William I of Prussia accepted 12,000 Salzburger Protestant emigrants, who settled in areas of East Prussia that had been devastated by the plague twenty years before. Their new homelands were located in what today is northeastern Poland, the Kaliningrad Oblast, and Lithuania. Other, smaller groups made their way to the Banat region of modern Romania, to what is now Slovakia, to areas near Berlin and Hannover in Germany, and to the Netherlands.
On March 12, 1734, a small group of about sixty exiles from Salzburg who had traveled to London arrived in the British American colony of Georgia seeking religious freedom. Later in that year they were joined by a second group, and by 1741 a total of approximately 150 of the Salzburg exiles had founded the town of Ebenezer, Georgia on the Savannah River, about twenty five miles north of the city of Savannah. Other German speaking families - mostly Swiss Germans, Palatines and Swabians - also joined the Salzburgers at Ebenezer. In time, all of these Germanic people became known as "Salzburgers"
During World War II, the city was lucky not to sustain heavy damage from Allied bombing runs. Although the town's bridges and the dome of the cathedral were demolished, much of its baroque architecture remained intact. As a result, it is one of the few remaining examples of a town of its style.
In the city of Salzburg there were several DP Camps following World War II. Among these were Riedenburg, Camp Herzl (Franz-Josefs-Kaserne), Camp Mülln, Bet Bialik, Bet Trumpeldor, New Palestine.
In 1965, the movie The Sound of Music was filmed in Salzburg and the state of Salzburg. The movie was based on the true story of Maria von Trapp, a Salzburg-based nun who took up with an aristocratic family and fled German occupation. Although the film is relatively unknown to Austrians, the town draws a large percentage of visitors who wish to relive the movie by visiting the filming locations.
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Salzburg is considered a tourist favourite, with the number of tourists outnumbering locals by a large margin in peak times.
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The Salzburg Airport has scheduled flights to key European cities such as Frankfurt, Vienna, London, Amsterdam and Zürich. The majority of flights, however, are charter flights.
| Districts (Bezirke) of Salzburg | |
|---|---|
| [image] | Hallein / Tennengau | Salzburg | Salzburg-Umgebung / Flachgau Sankt Johann im Pongau / Pongau | Tamsweg / Lungau | Zell am See / Pinzgau |