Salzburg Foundation

Snapshot

Founded 2002. 14 permanent public sculptures installed across Salzburg. Free and always accessible. Artists include Anselm Kiefer, James Turrell, Marina Abramovic, Stephan Balkenhol, Erwin Wurm, Tony Cragg, and Jaume Plensa.

The Story

Most visitors to Salzburg spend their time looking at the Baroque. The Salzburg Foundation has been quietly placing contemporary art in the same spaces since 2002, and the result is one of the most distinctive open-air collections in Austria.

The foundation commissions permanent, site-specific works by internationally recognised artists and installs them in the city’s historic public spaces. The installations are not temporary. Once a work goes in, it stays. Fourteen major sculptures now exist across the Altstadt, Mirabell Gardens, Mönchsberg, and surrounding areas, each chosen and positioned to put contemporary art in direct conversation with the historic city around it.

The roster is significant: Anselm Kiefer’s large-scale works AEIOU and Die Sprache der Vogel, James Turrell’s Sky Space on the Mönchsberg, Marina Abramovic’s Spirit of Mozart in Mirabell Gardens, Stephan Balkenhol’s figures Sphaera and Frau im Fels, and Erwin Wurm’s Gurken, among others. The collection is free, permanent, and requires no ticket. Walking from one work to the next across the city is one of the most satisfying ways to see Salzburg at a slower pace.