"Sound of Music" and Sculptures in Salzburg

We drove to Salzburg, Austria's fourth largest city and capital of the Federal State of Salzburg. The Old Town, with its world-famous Baroque architecture, is one of the best-preserved city centres north of the Alps. It's also the birthplace of my favorite composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the setting for parts of the classic film, The Sound of Music.

We walked along the Salzach River to see the beautiful Schloss Mirabell (Mirabell Castle), built by an Archbishop for his beloved courtesan (yes, you heard it right…an Archbishop and a courtesan). It has a large hall with marble stairs, called the Marble Hall, which is used for concerts and awards ceremonies, and also rented out for wedding banquets.

A huge garden surrounds the property, divided into sections – the Hedge Theater, the Garden of Roses, the Garden of Dwarves, and The Orangerie. The gardens looked very familiar and before I could ask a question, our local guide said that this was where they filmed the “Do Re Mi” number in the movie, The Sound of Music. Ah…that’s why!

To continue with the Sound of Music trivia, we went to the Residenz Fountain at the Residenz Square, location of the scene where Maria got off the bus while singing, "I Have Confidence in Me" on her way to the Trapp villa. Yes, I remembered that. It's a beautiful fountain that features Triton holding a conch shell trumpet, three dolphins, and four snorting horses that seem like they are emerging from the base.

If you fancy a horse carriage ride, this is also the place to get one. But we preferred explore the area by foot.

Behind the fountain is the Dom zu Salzburg (Salzburg Cathedral). With its Early Baroque architecture, mighty dome, two imposing towers, and façade crafted from Untersberg Marble, it looked resplendent under the sun. It is Salzburg's most important sacred building because its history was intertwined with the great Prince-Archbishop rulers in its heydey.

Inside, it houses several treasures, but the most popular is the bronze baptismal font with lions at its base, for this was where two of Salzburg's most notable sons were baptized - the famous composer, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Joseph Mohr, the man who wrote the lyrics for "Silent Night." At the time of our visit, there was also an exhibit displaying artifacts excavated from a Roman villa and the foundations of a Romanesque cathedral that once stood in the area.

After praying and lighting candles, we checked out the lively line-up of stalls at the Cathedral Square. We bought some souvenir magnets and stayed for a while to listen to this street musician playing Mozart pieces on his violin. In the winter, this is where they hold the Salzburg Christmas night market.

This is also where you will find the statue of the Immaculate Conception, as well as two modern sculptures done by the same artist, Stephan Balkenhol, that serve as counterparts of each other. The first one, depicts a man in modern clothes standing on a golden globe. It is called "Sphaera," and is supposed to show the relationship between humankind and the world.

Nearby, in a somewhat hidden rock face niche is a woman in a red dress, standing with arms folded below her waist and has an almost-expressionless face. It is called, "Woman in the Rock," and it seems to depict a shy person trying to look inconspicuous while observing the world around her.

I was not sure if this was the “counterpart” idea that the artist had in mind, but this was just my own interpretation – the man appearing large with the world at his feet and seemingly saying, “Hey, look at me. I am on top of the world,” versus the woman trying to remain invisible in her little corner, as if saying, “Just ignore me while I silently observe the world before me.”

Salzburg is full of sculptures like these – abstract and thought-provoking...and they stand side-by-side the traditional historical and religious sculptures.

We started laughing though when our guide mentioned that some locals nicknamed the “Sphaera” sculpture, Mozartkugel (or Mozart ball, Salzburg’s famous confection). So much for philosophical thinking! My mind had been instantly corrupted. I would be thinking of candies now, instead of the mysteries of life, when I see this sculpture.

Behind us, we could see the Schloss Hellbrunn and the Hohensalzburg Fortress up the hill. It was too bad we didn’t have enough time to go up there and explore these places, but we will definitely check them out when we go back to Salzburg with our son. The Schloss Hellbrunn is popular with children. It was once the summer palace of the Archbishops of Salzburg and is surrounded by vast gardens, unique fountains, a wading pool, a playground, and a mini-zoo. The Hohensalzburg Fortress, on the other hand, features a museum of medieval weapons, life on the fortress, and torture instruments. There is a funicular ride available to get there and on top is a spectacular view of the city and The Alps from the watchtower.

Instead, we just posed in front of the Kapitelschwemme, the beautiful well that features Neptune and Pegasus, and was actually a medieval horse bath. I remembered this fountain as a backdrop to the "My Favorite Things" number when the Von Trapp kids were frolicking in their curtain-inspired clothes.

This beautiful fountain is considered a mini-version of the Fountain of Trevi in Rome by some. It is for this reason that tourists also throw coins in there for good luck. Of course, we made a wish that one day, we could return.

(Update: And we did return in 2024…with our son! We took photos with him on the same spots where my husband and I posed for shots during our 2010 trip – a sort of contrast between the past, when our little boy was still inside my tummy, and the present, when our already big boy was towering over me. However, we still haven’t visited the castle and the fortress because we made plans to explore beyond Salzburg. We have to go back another time!)