Franziskanerkirche
The Franziskanerkirche or
Franciscan church in Salzburg, Austria is one of the oldest churches
in the old town district of Salzburg, built in two parts, the
original Romanesque nave basilica with ribbed vaults and the nave
with an elegant gothic choir area with magnificent star vaults that
are pictured to the right. The first church dedicated to Our Lady is
believed to be older than the cathedral of St. Virgil, and was
constructed on the site of an early Christian place of worship.
Abbot-bishop Virgil commissioned the church to be constructed in the
first half of the 8th century and dedicated to the Virgin Mary,
called "Our Lady", that is used as a baptismal and synodalkirche. It
was run by the monks of the Benedictine Abbey St. Peter, until 1130,
when it would be managed by the Abbey Church of St. Peter's Women of
the Benedictines until 1583. In 1223, the church was consecrated,
although it was damaged by fire in 1267, and subsequently remodeled.
In 1408, it would undergo extensive remodeling by Master Hans von
Burghausen, who soon passed away, and then completed in 1432 by
Stephan Krumenauer. In 1592, Raitenau Wolf Dietrich gave the church
to the Franciscans to be used for a monastery, until 1635, when it
became the cathedral for the parish, but since it was a
Romanesque-gothic style of architecture, which the church considered
to be barbaric because of the Goths, especially after they defeated
the more noble Romans, it was considered ugly by Archbishop
Colleredo. That is until the great philosopher Goethe decided that
the style was artistic in nature, and not barbaric, so the church,
which might have been torn down and replaced, was spared and is now
the magnificent church it is. The bell tower was constructed from
1496 until 1498 under the design of a Nuremberg Master builder, but
in 1670, the gothic tower lace was removed because Archbishop Max
Gandolf of Kuenburg believed that the tower of the Franciscan church
shouldn't be higher than the tower of the city's cathedral. In 1866
and 1867, the tower was remodeled and restored by Joseph Wessiken.
The bells of the church, ten in all, are named after Biblical people
and related idioms, with two cast in the 15th century, named Mary,
number 1, and Assumpta, same year, number 3. Every Friday, the bells
toll in memory of the last breath of Jesus on the cross, with the
small arms soul bell, number 10 rings every day in the evening. The
two bells, mentioned above, that were cast in 1468 have been welded,
but still ring boldly and loudly.
Mozart Residence
The
house that became known as Mozart's residence was the house known as
Tanzmeisterhaus or the dancing master's house that was constructed
in 1617, and was really two houses built together until 1685. The
house was owned by Lorenz Speckner and in 1711, he applied for
permission to give dancing lessons there for the rich and elite of
the aristocracy of the city, and by 1713 had become well known
around the city as the dancing master's house. The house became the
property of his son, Franz Karl Gottlieb Speckner in 1739 after
Lorenz passed away, still being used as a dancing school for the
elite. At the time, dancing masters were very important since they
taught the young aristocrats to dance and how to behave in court;
which Franz was well acquainted with. In 1747, Franz was one of the
witnesses to the marriage of Mozart's parents and by 1765 had begun
trying to find a larger apartment since their family was growing and
little Mozart needed space to learn and practice. Their apartment at
the time included a bedroom, kitchen, study, chamber and living
room. Leopold Mozart spoke with his current landlord, Johann Lorenz
Hagenauer from the Hague; asking many questions about his children
needing bedrooms and asked if the apartment could be enlarged. In
1767, Speckner passed on and left the building to a cousin, Maria
Anna Raab, a Tansmeister mitzerl and didn't give anymore dance
lessons in the house but instead renting the rooms out as apartments
and changed the ballroom into a place for weddings and other special
occasions. Since the Mozart family was now traveling throughout
Europe there wasn't any immediate need to find a bigger apartment
and the idea went on the back burner. In February, 1771, Leopold
wrote to his wife from Venice that when they returned, their
apartment would be way to small to support the family and the needs
of the growing talents of Mozart. He suggested a few places in the
city to stay for the family and he would stay at the Hagenhauer
house so he could just walk across the square to work, and said that
they couldn't "sleep as soldiers" any more since Wolfgang wasn't 7
anymore. After their third trip to Venice in 1773, the family moved
into bigger quarters on the former Hannibalplatz on the current
Makart Square 8. It was biggest enough for all the family's needs,
as well as entertaining guests and musicians coming to visit with
Wolfgang. It was in this house that Mozart began writing serenades,
symphonies, piano and violin concerti, masses, sacred music,
divertimenti, arias, and a bassoon concerto, from 1773 to 1780. From
1773 until 1787 when Leopold passed on the family wrote some 232
letters from the address, and received 215 letters written to the
address. He would often make fun of his landlady, the Mizerl, and in
1774, he wrote his sister to give his best to the virgin mizerl,
although she was 46 and Wolfgang was 18. Mozart's mother passed on
in Paris in 1778, and his sister, Nannerl was married and moved to
St. Gilgne in 1784, leaving Leopold alone in the apartment, until
his grandson, Leopold Alois Pantaleon was born there in 1785 and
left in the care of his grandfather. After Leopold passed on in
1787, the house would have many different owners, and in October,
1944, the house would be almost destroyed, and eventually the
remainder would be torn down and replaced with a government house.
But the other side or other house, had been salvaged in 1955 and
turned into a museum, until it too was torn down in 1994. The new
house, built to specifications that would make it look as it did
when Mozart lived there was finished in 1996 and opened to the
public.
