Linzer Gasse in Salzburg is one of the city's most popular sights and attracts numerous visitors. This charming alley connects Salzburg's old town with the Kapuzinerberg and offers a unique atmosphere. Named after the city of Linz, Linzer Gasse looks back on a long history dating back to the Middle Ages. As part of Austria's cultural heritage, it is one of the oldest streets in Salzburg and a major attraction for visitors from all over Austria. The street is lined with historic buildings that now house modern stores and cafés. Linzer Gasse is considered one of the most charming streets in the city of Salzburg, combining history and modern life in an impressive way.

There are also various museums in the vicinity of Linzer Gasse that showcase Salzburg's rich culture and history. The alley itself tells stories of Salzburg merchants and craftsmen who have enlivened it for centuries. Numerous historic buildings along Linzer Gasse are architectural attractions that reflect the city's eventful history. The Linzergassenfest and ARTmosFLAIR are annual highlights that attract visitors from all over the region. Steingasse, which is also part of the historic center, is located nearby. As part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Linzer Gasse offers an authentic experience of Austrian culture and history.

The history of Linzer Gasse

Even in Roman times, Linzer Gasse was the main traffic artery of the districts to the right of the Salzach and formed the most important arterial road from the capital and royal seat of Salzburg in the direction of Linz, Vienna and the north-eastern Habsburg Empire. Situated in the shelter and shadow of the Kapuzinerberg, the ancient Linzer Gasse stretches from the “Platzl” at the Staatsbrücke bridge and ends out of town where the Linzer Tor gate stood until 1894. Over the centuries, Linzer Gasse has been full of stores and bars.

Many of the quaint, old houses of the Linzergasse can trace their chronicles back to the 14th and 15th centuries and still bear witness to the efficient and industrious burghers of yesteryear. The devastating city fire of 1818, causing extensive damage to the right bank of the Salzach River, did not spare the Linzergasse but the wounds have meanwhile healed and the charming burgher houses - lovingly renovated - once again border this beautiful old district in Mozart's city.

The Linzergasse with its handicrafts and old shops, its countless restaurants and hostels and its unmatched local flair has always been the counterpart of its "Salzburger" sister, the elegant, international Getreidegasse on the other side of the river. For many centuries, those who needed a turner, a draper or butcher, a gunsmith or chain maker, a clockmaker, cooper or art metal worker, an apothecary and barber-surgeon, a gingerbread-maker and wax-chandler or even a bell-founder were at the right address in the Linzergasse.

Important buildings in the Linzer Gasse

Coming from the "Platzl" at the Staatsbrücke, one's glance falls upon house number 3, where the natural scientist Theophratus Bombastus von Hohenheim, also called paracelsus, lived from 1540 to 1541.

The Engel Apothecary's Shop is located in house number 7, whose most prominant apprentice was certainly the poet Georg Trakl born in Salzburg in 1887. Right next-door in Linzergasse house number 9, the Hotel Gablerbräu, a plaque commemorates the great singer, Richard Mayr, the unforgetable "Ox of Lerchenau" in Richard Strauss' opera "Der Rosenkavalier".

Upon crossing to the other side of the Linzergasse, an impressive gate and stairway entices one to an introspective ascent of the Kapuzinerberg over an old crossroad; the slightly exerting climb up to the Capuchin Monastery is rewarded by a wonderful view of the beautiful Old City at the foot of Hohensalzburg Fortress on the opposite side of the river. The well-preserved city walls dating back to the Thirty Years' War bear witness to the principality's excellent fortification during those militant times.

Just a few steps down the Linzergasse is church St. Sebastian and the impressive Sebastian's Cemetery, built around 1600 by Prince Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau in the style of an Italian campo santo, not having surrendered any of its centuries-old dignity and silent beauty in spite of the turmoil of past and present times. The cemetery contains the tomb of the physician Paracelsus.

The magnificent mausoleum for Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, probably the most prominent of Salzburg's Baroque princes, in the center of the cemetery is a past and present tourist attraction. The music lover will find the final resting-places of Mozart's family: father Leopold and Wolfgang's wife Constanze as well as her second husband, Georg Nikolas von Nissen and her aunt Genovefa von Weber, mother of the composer Carl Maria von Weber, enroute to the mausoleum.

Prominent Salzburg burghers and merchants' families were buried under the magnificent arcades of the cemetery and a walk across the silent churchyard is like browsing through the book of Salzburg's history over the centuries. The Church of St. Sebastian, renovated with a great feeling for the arts, contains a magnificent wrought iron gate made by Philipp Hinterseer and a high altar bearing a statue of the Madonna by Hans Waldburger dating back to 1611.

Discover Linzergasse and other highlights of Salzburg in 48 hours!