This is not where Mozart was born. It is where the family chose to live once they could afford something better, and it is mostly a reconstruction: aerial bombs destroyed two-thirds of the building in 1944, and what you visit today was rebuilt and reopened in 1996.
The Story
In autumn 1773, Leopold Mozart signed a lease on the Tanzmeisterhaus at Makartplatz 8, paying 150 gulden a year for a spacious eight-room flat on the first floor. The family had outgrown the cramped third-floor apartment at Getreidegasse 9, and the move took them across the Salzach to Salzburg's right bank, a short walk from the Dreifaltigkeitskirche and the Landestheater. The building had been a dance school since 1711, when Lorenz Spöckner received official permission to teach noble dance there, and the high-ceilinged Tanzmeistersaal gave the Mozarts a salon fit for entertaining patrons, hosting boarders, and displaying Leopold's pianos for sale.
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was 17 when the family moved in. He lived here until 1781, when he left for Vienna at 25 and never returned to Salzburg to live. Leopold Mozart and Nannerl Mozart stayed on. Leopold died in the building in 1787, six years after Wolfgang's departure. The house the Mozarts knew as home was, in the end, Leopold and Nannerl's home for far longer than it was Wolfgang's.
The bombing raid of 16 October 1944 left two-thirds of the Tanzmeisterhaus in rubble. An insurance company acquired the shell and filled the gap with a modern office block. The Stiftung Mozarteum had been renting part of the building since 1939 and held on. It bought the remaining historic plot in 1989, acquired and demolished the office block in the early 1990s, and rebuilt the entire complex according to 18th-century plans. Dai-ichi Life funded the reconstruction. The museum opened on 26 January 1996, Mozart's 240th birthday.
Today the museum holds Wolfgang's fortepiano and violin, manuscript facsimiles, family portraits, and a multi-vision show drawing on the Stiftung Mozarteum's collection. The courtyard contains the Magic Flute House, a small summerhouse where Schikaneder allegedly pushed Mozart to finish the opera's libretto. It was moved from Vienna to Salzburg by the Stiftung Mozarteum in 1873. Connect to: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Leopold Mozart, Nannerl Mozart, Mozarts Birthplace, Stiftung Mozarteum, Dreifaltigkeitskirche.
Visiting
The museum is at Makartplatz 8, on the right bank of the Salzach, near the Dreifaltigkeitskirche. The entrance is on Theatergasse; barrier-free ramp access is available by calling ahead (+43 662 874227 40). Hours are typically 9:00 to 17:30, with last entry 30 minutes before closing; check mozarteum.at for current hours and holiday exceptions (Christmas Eve closes at 13:00). Admission is paid; verify current pricing at mozarteum.at/en/mozart-museums/mozarts-residence. The Salzburg Card grants free entry. A combined ticket with Mozarts Birthplace is available and valid for 24 or 48 hours from first use.
Inside, prioritise the Tanzmeistersaal with the original fortepiano and violin, the family portrait gallery, and the courtyard Magic Flute House. The multi-vision show is included. Budget 1 to 1.5 hours. The two Mozart museums are 10 minutes apart on foot across the Makartplatz bridge; pairing them on the same day makes sense, and the combined ticket removes any decision about which to see first.