Salzburg Cathedral has dominated the townscape of the city of Mozart for almost 400 years. The cathedral is the visual and spiritual centre of the Old Town of Salzburg.

The first cathedral in the city of Salzburg was built under the reign of Bishop Virgil. This cathedral was burned to the ground by followers of Emperor Barbarossa in 1167.
Archbishop Konrad III von Wittelsbach had the cathedral rebuilt as a more imposing church than ever before. In 1598 another fire destroyed large parts of the cathedral.
At this time Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau was Archbishop of Salzburg.
He decided to demolish the remaining walls of the church building to erect an even greater cathedral in its place. Due to a feud with the rulers of Bavaria he was not able to turn his plans into reality.
He spent the rest of his life imprisoned in Hohensalzburg Castle, held captive by the Bavarians and his nephew and successor Markus Sittikus. Markus Sittikus charged the Italian architect Santino Solari with the new construction of Salzburg Cathedral.

Construction work was completed under the reign of Paris Lodron 14 years later.
Today the epitaphs of the two principals can be found next to the main altar.

One of the most extraordinary sightseeing highlights of Salzburg Cathedral is the baptismal font.
It was created in 1321 and is older than the cathedral itself.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was baptised in this font – as was Joseph Mohr, author of the Christmas carol ‘Silent Night’.