The emperor who made Salzburg matter. Charlemagne never lived in the city, but his sponsorship of Arno of Salzburg led directly to Salzburg's elevation to an archdiocese in 798. That single act transformed a regional bishopric into the ecclesiastical capital of Central Europe and the gateway for the Christianisation of the East.
Charlemagne and Arno were close friends and correspondents. Their letters survive to this day. The intellectual culture Charlemagne championed across his empire found one of its strongest outposts at Stift St. Peter and Salzburg Cathedral, where Arno built a centre of Carolingian learning that shaped the city for centuries.
