DomQuartier

The DomQuartier opened in 2014 by doing something that hadn't been possible for two hundred years: reconnecting the spaces where Salzburg's prince-archbishops lived, worshipped, and ruled. The museum route links the Residenz state rooms, the cathedral gallery, and the St. Peter's Abbey collections through a series of walkways and terraces that allow you to move between buildings without returning to street level. For the first time since the secularisation of 1803, you can walk through the entire ecclesiastical power complex as the archbishops themselves did.

The route covers 15,000 square metres across multiple buildings and includes over 2,000 artworks. The highlight for many visitors is the Residenz state rooms — particularly the Carabinieri Hall with its Johann Michael Rottmayr ceiling frescoes and the Conference Hall, where prince-archbishops received ambassadors, issued decrees, and ran what was effectively an independent state for eight centuries.

The cathedral terrace offers a perspective most visitors never see: you step outside at gallery level and find yourself looking down into the Domplatz from above, at roughly the same height as the cathedral's Baroque facade statues. During the Salzburg Festival, this is where Jedermann is performed below you in the square — if you time your visit right, you can watch the set-up from a vantage point usually reserved for angels and gargoyles.

The Long Gallery connecting the Residenz to the cathedral contains the art collection — Flemish masters, Italian Renaissance works, and Austrian Baroque paintings arranged in the same rooms where they were originally hung by the prince-archbishops who collected them. These were men with enormous budgets, excellent taste, and a need to impress visiting dignitaries. The collection they assembled rivals many national galleries, housed in rooms that are themselves works of art.