Historical Landmarks

4000 BC Stone Age settlement on Rainberg.

1000 BC Illyrian settlement.

500 BC The Celts invade the region and settle; salt mining begins.

15 BC The Romans conquer the region; Juvavum (Salzburg) emerges.

470 St Severin founds a monastic settlement at Salzburg.

c.500 The Bavarians drive out the Romans.

696 Bishop Rupert of Worms is given the city of Salzburg.

c.700 St Peter’s Abbey and Nonnberg Convent are founded by Rupert.

739 Salzburg becomes a bishopric and later an archbishopric.

8th century First cathedral built by St Virgil.

1077 Archbishop Gebhard commissions Hohensalzburg fortress.

1167 Frederick Barbarossa burns the city to the ground.

1348–9 Salzburg is struck by plague; a third of the population dies.

16th–17th century Archbishops Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, Markus Sittikus and Paris Graf von Lodron give the city its modern-day appearance.

1623 University founded by Archbishop Paris Graf von Lodron.

1756 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart born at Getreidegasse 9.

1781 Mozart moves to Vienna after arguing with the archbishop.

1800 French troops march into Salzburg.

1816 Salzburg becomes part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

1861 First elected parliament and provincial government in Salzburg.

1917 Salzburg Festival Hall Association founded.

1920 Salzburg becomes a province of the Democratic Republic of Austria.

1938 German troops march into Austria.

1945 US troops enter the city.

1956–60 Building of the Large Festival Hall.

1967 Easter Festival founded. Old Town preserved by law.

1996 Old Town of Salzburg becomes a World Cultural Heritage Site.

2006 250th anniversary of Mozart’s birth celebrated.

2015 The Sound of Music 50th-anniversary celebrations.

2017 Long-time (1999–2017) mayor of Salzburg Heinz Schaden resigns following his involvement in a financial scandal.