Tyrol and Its People

by Clive Holland

CHAPTER VII

THE ENVIRONS OF SALZBURG—HELLBRUNN, ITS UNIQUE FOUNTAINS AND GARDENS—THE CASTLE OF ANIF—THE GAISBERG—THE KAPUZINGERBERG—THE MOZART-HÄUSCHEN—THE MÖNCHSBERG—SALZBURG CHURCHES

In the neighbourhood of Salzburg there are several beautiful castles erected by various holders of the See. Amongst them the charmingly situated Leopoldskron, lying to the south of the Mönchsberg, overlooking a lake covered in early summer with a profusion of water lilies and other water plants, and embracing a magnificent prospect of the environing mountains. The drive to Leopoldskron is one not to be missed. As one passes along the magnificent avenue, or allée, of trees, through flower-bedecked fields, and with the fresh air from off the river and mountains perfumed by the carpet of blossoms which lies stretched on either side of the road, one is able to realize to the full the rural charm which surrounds the historic and busy town just left behind.

HELLBRUNN AND ITS FOUNTAINS

But a little distance further, on the other side of the Salzach, is Hellbrunn, once an Archiepiscopal and now an Imperial possession. It is surrounded by a large deer park, and owes its origin to the Archbishop Marcus Sittich in 1613. It is pleasantly situated, and was, according to tradition, the retreat and pleasure palace of its founder, who was of a far more social and lively disposition than Archbishops, even in that somewhat lax age, were supposed to be, and here he installed his favourites. In the chateau itself there are some fine state apartments, in one of which are some interesting frescoes by Mascagni, Franz von Sienna, and Solari the younger.

But the gardens and unique fountains and "waterworks," which are laid out and planned in the style so popular during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, are the great attractions of Hellbrunn, not only to the foreign visitors, but on Sundays especially to the Salzburg folk, and those of the neighbouring villages who flock in thousands to the chateau. In the gardens of Hellbrunn one finds the same velvety turf that so generally distinguishes those of other castles in this fertile valley of the Salzach; whilst in the ponds, lakes, fountains, and "trick" waterworks—invented by the Archbishop, so it is said, to amuse his favourites during his enforced absences upon his ecclesiastical duties and affairs of State—one has something quite out of the ordinary.

Indeed, probably in no other garden in the world do unsuspecting visitors run such risks of a soaking or impromptu shower baths as at Hellbrunn. Jets start suddenly (at the turn of secret taps by the custodian, who seems to take a cynical delight, bred of many experiences, in the visitor's discomfiture) from rockeries, from the corners of plaster columns, from the mouths, finger-tips and eyes of statues, from the foliage of trees, from roofs of grottoes, from the edges of the very paths along which one is unsuspectingly walking, from, it appears, the very ground beneath one's feet. One is lured into a grotto to admire a statue or to "see something" which may or may not actually exist, only a moment later to find one's exit blocked by a curtain of water, which pours down from the outside rocks above the entrance. This lifts and one makes a dash for liberty, only to be assailed by jets of water converging or spurting across the path one has to follow. Visitors seat themselves upon a marble bench a few moments later, and a whole battery of jets plays upon the unfortunate sitters, or are so arranged that, whilst not actually playing upon them, to escape without "running the gauntlet," for the amusement of the more discreet or knowing onlookers, is impossible. On fine Sundays when there is usually a great crowd of visitors at this favourite out-of-town resort, which boasts of an excellent restaurant, there is, of course, plenty of fun when the jets begin to play for the lucky folk who have "been there before."

Along one path leading from the chateau to the lawns and fish-ponds, the latter of which are crowded with huge carp and other fish, some of which are reputed to be as old as Hellbrunn itself, there are set in niches a number of figures, blacksmiths, armourers, millers, and the like with their anvils, forges, and mills worked by a tiny runlet of water. And not far from these is the famous mechanical Theatre, also worked by water power, with its organ, and some hundred and fifty figures in sixteenth- and seventeenth-century costumes, which give quaint performances, depicting a busy town, dancers (these latter very amusing with their pirouettes and posturings), soldiers, fighting, jousts, etc. Of the water grottoes that known as the Neptune—with, it is said, five thousand jets—is the largest, and there are also the Rainbow, Fairy, and Orpheus grottoes, each one bringing into play some fresh piece of mechanical or other ingenuity.

In the deer park is situated the famous Monatsschlösschen upon a wooded knoll, from which a fine view is obtainable. This building was erected (some say for a bet) within a month's time by Archbishop Marcus Sittich. There was at the time a popular belief that he was assisted in the accomplishment of what was, at all events in those days, a wonderful feat by Satan himself.