A Baroque horse-washing pool on Herbert-von-Karajan-Platz, built in 1695 to wash the Prince-Archbishop's parade horses. The "Horse Tamer" sculpture at its centre has been standing in water for over 300 years. Free, always open, and mostly walked past.
The Story
Archbishop Johann Ernst von Thun commissioned Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach, the architect who defined Austria's imperial Baroque look, to design a horse-washing facility for the Hofmarstall court stables in 1693. The result was completed by 1695: a rectangular pool fed by the Almkanal, Salzburg's medieval canal system, framed by a colonnaded arcade and backed by a painted wall.
The central sculpture, the "Horse Tamer" by Bernhard Michael Mandl, shows a figure wrestling a rearing horse. Mandl was a Salzburg sculptor working in the tradition of the Italian Baroque: dynamic, physical, designed to be read from a distance. In 1732 Archbishop Leopold Anton von Firmian had the statue rotated ninety degrees and installed on a raised pedestal, adding a balustrade to frame the pool. At the same time, Josef Ebner painted the rear wall with frescoes of equestrian exercises modelled on 17th-century engravings.
The pool's original function was entirely practical. The Archbishop's horses needed washing before court ceremonies, and the Hofmarstall stables, the building that now forms part of the Grosses Festspielhaus, stood directly behind it. The facility served that purpose for over a century. After the court stables fell out of use in the early 19th century, the pool stayed. The city opened the square to the public.
It sits at the edge of the Festival district, between the Neutor tunnel and the main festival venues. Most visitors pass through Sigmundsplatz without turning the corner to look at it.
Visiting
- Access: Free, always accessible.
- Getting there: Herbert-von-Karajan-Platz. From the Altstadt, walk west through Sigmundsplatz toward the Neutor tunnel.
- Duration: 5-10 minutes.
- Combine with: Grosses Festspielhaus, Felsenreitschule, Stiftskeller St Peter.