walking tour
Standing on the stage of the Felsenreitschule, a theater carved directly into the Mönchsberg cliff face with three tiers of rock-cut arched galleries above you, is one of those moments no photograph prepares you for. The guided tour earns its €7.
The Salzburg Festival runs each July and August and has done so almost continuously since 1920. The venue complex on Hofstallgasse was assembled over decades from improbable raw material: the site was the Archbishop’s Baroque stables and riding academy, built in the 17th century against the cliff face of the Mönchsberg. The festival founders kept the historic Baroque facade as the entrance wall of the Grosses Festspielhaus and carved the Felsenreitschule stage deeper into the rock.
The Grosses Festspielhaus was completed in 1960 to specifications driven by Herbert von Karajan, who wanted a stage large enough for his ambitions and acoustics calibrated for unamplified voice and orchestra. The stage is 30 meters wide. The foyer preserves the 17th-century marble staircase and the original stable architecture behind the modern concert hall.
The Haus fur Mozart began as a temporary 1925 riding school structure and was rebuilt as a 1,580-seat hall completed in 2006. The 50-minute tour covers all three venues and includes backstage access. It does not run during the Festival itself because the spaces are in active production use.
The route
The sequence is preserved exactly as authored. Hover a stop to see it on the map.
Operator
One of the world's most prestigious performing arts festivals. Held annually late July to end of August. Founded 1920 by Hugo von Hofmannsthal, Max Reinhardt, Richard Strauss, Franz Schalk, and Alfred Roller. Inaugural event: Jedermann on Domplatz. Herbert von Karajan defined the postwar era. Opera, drama, concerts.
