Salzburg Cathedral

Also known as dom, dom-zu-salzburg, salzburg-dom, Salzburger Dom, Dom zu Salzburg

The first baroque cathedral built in the German-speaking world, and the dominant church at the heart of Salzburg's Altstadt. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was baptised here on 28 January 1756. The site has held a cathedral since 774, when Saint Virgil of Salzburg consecrated the first one.

The Salzburg Cathedral was the first large Italian Baroque church built north of the Alps. Archbishop Wolf Dietrich had seen Rome, wanted Salzburg to rival it, and commissioned architect Santino Solari to model the new cathedral directly on the Jesuit church Il Gesu. The building was consecrated in 1628 after Wolf Dietrich’s death in captivity. Mozart was baptized here the day after his birth in January 1756, in a Romanesque font from 1321 that still stands in the nave. Five organs with over 4,000 pipes fill the nave during Sunday Mass. The dome collapsed in a 1944 bombing raid and was fully restored only in 1959. Entry is free; the DomQuartier circuit connecting the cathedral to the Residenz and St Peter’s Abbey requires a separate ticket.