Bergstraße Road & its Neighbourhood

The Bergstraße is not really a road as the name misleadingly implies, but rather a narrow lane that links the Linzergasse with the Dreifaltigkeitsgasse and further on with the Neustadt district. The latter was a building project of the late 19th century and comprises primarily of historicist architecture, erected on the site of bastions and other fortifications. The Bergstraße itself, however, is part of the Altstadt (Old Town) and well-known for little bars on the ground floor of the mostly Medieval buildings. They make the Bergstraße a good area for going out in the evenings.

The oldest records of the Bergstraße date back to 1365, it was fortified for the first time in the 15th century. The neighbourhood was strongly altered under the rule of Prince Archbishop Paris Lodron in the 17th century. For details, see our articles on the Dreifaltigkeitskirche, the Dreifaltigkeitsgasse and the Primogeniturpalast - all three sights are around the corner of Bergstraße. The little square where the Bergstraße merges with Linzergasse used to be a market square where fire wood was traded. This might be linked to the bricks of swamp material that was collected in Schallmoos and sold as "biofuel” in the Bergstraße.

Surroundings of Bergstraße

Several of the houses near the Dreifaltigkeitsgasse-end of the Bergstraße were part of the Primogenitur of Prince Archbishop Paris Lodron. In Bergstraße 16, he founded a college ("Marianum”) that was associated with Salzburg University. It aimed to provide education for boys from the Trentino, where the Lodron family was originally from, to become civil servants of Salzburg. The houses 14, 16, 18, 20 and 22 were all property of the Lodron family.

Walking up towards Linzergasse, you will note several inscriptions on houses; few of them refer to people of international significance, most of them to local celebrities. This includes for example Bergstraße 10, where Eduard Tratz was born - he then became the founder and first director of the Haus der Natur museum. There is a parallel alley to the Bergstraße, which is similar in character and also good for finding cosy bars, but even narrower: The Priesterhausgasse, referring to the seminary next to the Dreifaltigkeitskirche. Behind Bergstraße there are buildings and gardens of the Loretokloster. These are not visible from the street, but you can see them from the Prügelweg if you are ascending to the Kapuzinerkloster from Linzergasse.

Hidden Treasures of Salzburg

Links

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bergstra%C3%9Fe_%28Salzburg%29
German Wikipedia on the Bergstraße


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