An Italian garden cemetery on Linzer Gasse, laid out around 1600 by Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau as a campo santo: a nearly square plaza enclosed by 87 vaulted arcades. The mausoleum he built for himself stands at the centre.
The Story
The site began as a plague cemetery outside the city walls, with a church consecrated to Saint Sebastian in 1511. The saint was invoked against plague, traditionally depicted surviving arrows and a clubbing, his endurance making him a symbol of miraculous protection.
Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau commissioned a complete redesign between 1595 and 1600. He hired Andrea Berteleto to lay out an Italian campo santo, roughly 90 by 80 metres, enclosed by 87 vaulted pillar arcades. The entrance on Linzer Gasse still carries his marble coat of arms and the date 1600. At the centre he placed the Gabrielskapelle, a circular mausoleum tiled inside in multicoloured porcelain, built to hold his own remains. He was imprisoned by Archduke Maximilian III in 1612, held in Hohensalzburg Fortress, and died there in 1617. He is buried in the mausoleum he designed for himself.
Paracelsus, the Swiss-German physician and alchemist who practised in Salzburg, is buried in the chapel porch. His monument has stood here since 1564: a marble plate with coat of arms and an obelisk topped by a portrait medallion. The Latin inscription records cures for leprosy, gout and dropsy.
Leopold Mozart rests on the left-hand path toward the Gabrielskapelle. Constanze Mozart lies a few metres away with Georg Nikolaus von Nissen, her second husband, a Danish diplomat.
The cemetery was damaged in the 1818 fire and later restored. It feels entirely different from Petersfriedhof: open, airy, southern in character. Quieter than it should be given what it contains.
Visiting
- Hours: Daily 9am-4pm (winter), until 6:30pm (summer)
- Cost: Free
- Duration: 20-30 minutes
- Getting there: Linzer Gasse 41, right bank, about 10 minutes from the Staatsbrucke
- Tips: Wolf Dietrich's mausoleum is in the centre. Paracelsus is in the chapel porch to the right of the entrance. Barrier-free access via ramp.
- Combine with: Linzer Gasse, Petersfriedhof, Mirabell Gardens