Sankt Wolfgang is a pilgrimage village on the Wolfgangsee in Upper Austria, home to three distinct cultural layers: the Michael Pacher late Gothic carved altarpiece (1471-1481) in the parish church, the Weisses Roessl hotel that inspired a novel, an operetta, and several films, and the Schafberg cog railway that featured in The Sound of Music. The Pacher altar is free to view in the parish church. The Schafberg railway runs May to October and requires advance booking. Wolfgangsee Bus from Salzburg takes about 60 minutes. The village gets very busy with day-trippers in high summer; staying overnight and visiting in the evening or early morning gives a completely different experience. Book the Schafberg in advance and book accommodation early for July and August.
village
St. Wolfgang
The Michael Pacher altarpiece in the parish church of Sankt Wolfgang is one of the finest examples of late Gothic carved wood sculpture in the German-speaking world, completed between 1471 and 1481 and somehow surviving the Reformation, the Josephine reforms, and multiple waves of artistic fashion relatively intact.