HOHENSALZBURG CASTLE
Austria
The massive fortress which dominates the town of Salzburg dates to 1077 when it was constructed by Archbishop Gerhard von Salzburg. It was then greatly expanded a century later under the rule of Konrad I.
In the 15th and 16th Centuries during the Hungarian Wars the Castle was expanded and reached more or less its present huge proportions under Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach (1495 - 1519). It was during this time that the Castle's symbol was added above the main entrance, a lion holding, somewhat oddly, a beetroot in its paws!
The Kuenberg Bastion was one of the last additions to the Castle, being far more in the line of design of Vauban's great French and Dutch earth and brick forts, quite unusual in Austrian Castles. The Castle became a prison from the mid-16th century.
The Castle today is a museum and can be reached by special funicular railway (or, of course, by foot). It stands high above the historic City of Salzburg (Mozart's birthplace) and dominates most views.
© Text copyright - Raving Loony Productions and Andrew J. Müller
© Photos and Artwork - Shaun and Alison Runham and Andrew J.
Müller
© Web Design and Layout - Andrew J. Müller
2001
