One can then either descend to the Marketenderschlössl through the beautiful woods by one of the well-kept paths, and thence reach Mülln, or retrace one's steps, and walk right along to the Hohen-Salzburg end of the Mönchsberg, from whence by entering the fortress and descending by way of the Nonnberg one obtains a fine view of the other portion of the Salzach valley in the direction of the Gaisberg, Hellbrunn, and Anif.
On the Nonnberg, so called from the Benedictine Convent built upon it, stands the fine Gothic Chapel founded in the first year of the eleventh century and beautifully restored in the fifteenth. In it is much fine stained glass, a winged altar piece of great interest; and there are also some interesting frescoes in the old tower. Unfortunately the cloisters are seldom if ever shown to visitors; they are the oldest now existent in the principality, and it is said even in the Austrian empire, dating as they do from the commencement of the eleventh century. They are charming and picturesque, and well worth the trouble which it is generally necessary to take in order to obtain permission to see them.
In Salzburg there is such a wealth of interesting buildings and places that to describe all one has seen or can see there is no space. Perhaps of those remaining to which reference has not yet been made, most people visit the house in which Mozart was born, situated in the narrow, picturesque old Getreidegasse; the Franciscan, formerly the Parish Church; the Church of St. Peter, with its ancient and picturesque burial-ground beneath the shadow of the towering fern- and flower-clothed Mönchsberg, and the Caroline Augustus Museum. There are, of course, also the Dreifaltigkeits Kirche, with fine frescoes and carvings, and the University Church, both worth a visit.
To Mozart's birthplace, along the quaint and narrow Getreidegasse with its beautiful old signs of wrought-iron work projecting from the shop fronts on either hand, come hundreds of English and American visitors annually. Now the house is also a Mozart Museum, with much of interest for admirers of the composer, antiquarians and students. In the birth-chamber itself one finds a most valuable series of family portraits, including some of Mozart's wife, Constance Weber; also those of his landlord and his wife, Lorenz Johann and Maria Theresa Hagenauer. There are also the "scores" of many of his operas, and other compositions, records of the Mozart family; and perhaps most interesting of all the small clavichord or spinet, and the grand piano or reiseclavier, which was a present from his brother Karl, on which he used to play.
In the family sitting-room there are many interesting relics of the composer's father, mother, and other relatives, including Mozart's own pocket-book-diary, a large number of fragments of compositions, which from one cause or another were destined never to be completed, many letters of the family, copies of Mozart's three first published pieces printed in Paris, and several pictures of the house in the Rauhensteingasse, Vienna, where the composer for some years lived and ultimately, on January 5, 1791, died. Salzburg has well-honoured her famous son's memory by the several memorials of him within her gates, including the fine though simply conceived bronze statue in the Mozart-Platz which cost nearly £2000, and was erected by voluntary subscriptions in 1842. By the foundation of the Mozarteum or "Society for the Cultivation of Mozart," not only is the memory of the great composer kept green, but the support of the School of Music of the same name is ensured. Thus the city of his birth, which did him (as is so frequently the case) but little honour during his lifetime, has nowadays become the centre of enthusiasm for his works. Festivals of his music take place during the summer months, at which not only the famous and beautiful Viennese Philharmonic Orchestra takes part, but also the most celebrated conductors and artistes.
Although Salzburg had been the residence of other famous musicians and composers, it is Mozart and his genius which dominates the ancient city's musical life, and proves so attractive an element to musicians and music lovers who visit it.
SALZBURG MUSICIANS
Michael Haydn, too, composer of much fine church music, was a resident in Salzburg and has a rather commonplace monument erected to his memory in St. Peter's Church. The latter is in the Romanesque style, founded in the middle of the twelfth century, and badly restored in the middle of the eighteenth, and is of great interest to the antiquarian and student of architecture. The portal consists of seven arches which gradually diminish in size, and are inlaid with strips of white and red marble. The very remarkable archings which strike one directly one has entered the building are portions of the original church. On a small altar near the vestry is a well-carved statue of the Virgin, said to be the work of one of the Archbishops, of about the end of the twelfth century, although there appears little real evidence in support of the suggestion.
The frescoes in the nave, representing scenes from the Crucifixion, painted in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, are worth study. In Salzburg considerable store is set upon the monuments in the church, but few rank high as works of art, although marking the graves or being memorials of distinguished and historic persons connected with the city's life in the past.
The beautiful though ruinous cemetery of St. Peter, which, with its crumbling tombs of the great dead, interesting and quaint mural tablets, and arcaded vaults belonging to some of the most important and famous Salzburg families, lies at the foot of the Mönchsberg, is, as well as the most picturesque, the oldest cemetery in Salzburg. It is difficult to exaggerate the interest and charm of the spot; always still, although set in the midst of a city, and within a few hundred yards of the principal and busiest thoroughfares. That it possesses a wonderful and mysterious attraction for tourists we can testify; and, indeed, we would almost go as far as to say that one meets more English and American visitors in this peaceful corner of the city than in any other spot on the southern side of the Salzach.