July 21 - Salzburg
I’m updating from Graz, my opinion of which so far is entirely favorable, probably because it has been cloudy and rainy the few hours we have been here. I still have two days in the Salzburg area to document.
The twenty-first (Tuesday) I stuck around Salzburg proper and explored the old town and cathedral district. It was another hot day. You’ll see people clinging to as much shade as they can find.
Lindergasse around the hotel.
Dog parking.
A side street I found off the main drag. It ended up going all the way up the hill against which our hotel was built, but I kept going toward the inner city instead.
Crossing the Salzach.
I was looking for the cathedral, specifically, but I got a bit turned around in the area and wound up finding this old fortification built into the side of one of the hills.
There was a long tunnel bored through the rock, which was a real treat, as it was cool and damp and dark inside-incredible contrast to the midday heat. These pictures are a bit blurry. I could have happily settled down in there, but I had things to see, so back out into the sun it was.
The old Franciscan church by the cathedral. I prefer this old stonework to the newer baroque cathedral, rebuilt and so-styled after a fire in the seventeenth century.
And here it is-Salzburger Dom, the Salzburg Cathedral, home to prince-archbishops and seat of secular and ecclesiastical power for centuries. I visited the Dom Quarter Museum, which included a tour of the cathedral treasures and the old apartments of the prince-archbishops and their retinue. Pictures were prohibited, so I had to be a little sneaky.
On the inside looking out.
From the patio.
The inside of the cathedral, viewed from the organ platform at the back.
The organ itself. There is always a glare in my organ pictures.
Tiny book.
I’m quite cross with myself for not realizing this was blurry sooner. It’s a gorgeous missal (mass book) commissioned by Prince-Archbishop Wolf Dietrich, the same guy who commissioned the re-working of the cathedral after the second fire, of gold and enamel and precious jewels, and I can’t find a picture of it online.
There was a painting exhibit on the theme of love, jealousy, betrayal, etc, and this was my favorite part of the exhibition: a shadow-cutout animation of the story of Pygmalion. For those not familiar, he is the sculptor who crafted a woman more perfect than any living woman could ever be, and fell in love with his sculpture. It’s an allegory that is immediately familiar even if you haven’t heard this specific story. My understanding of the film’s rendering of the story is that he sculpts this woman, and she comes alive, much to the consternation of his long-suffering and unnoticed housekeeper, becomes cross with Pygmalion, and leaves his house-still nude, of course, but she is not worldly enough to see a problem with this. She leads the town’s men away from their (imperfect, human, fat, old, stodgy, warty, naggy, etc) wives, causing them to lament and pray to Venus to fix the problem, but Venus does not intervene. Pygmalion catches up to the statue and drags her back home, shoving past townsmen, and tries to reason with her as the housekeeper brings a dress. Pygmalion snatches it away from the housekeeper, not even noticing her, and tries to dress the sculpture in the dress and jewelry. The sculpture gets irritated and rips the dress off, runs away again, and Pygmalion is about to stab himself with his awl in despair when the housekeeper stops him and comforts him. The townsmen find the house, the women find the townsmen, and it’s generally a big fracas in which everybody is pissed at Pygmalion, and during this confusion the housekeeper sneaks away to pray to Venus for intervention. Apparently the prayer of the housekeeper works where those of the wives did not, as Venus appears in terrifying splendor and turns the sculpture back to stone. Suddenly the husbands notice their wives again, there is much rejoicing, and everybody leaves Pygmalion staring despondently at his statue. Notably, one of the husbands hesitates to look back at the statue before his wife drags him away; sometimes it’s hard to let an ideal go. The housekeeper comes to Pygmalion and helps him up, and for the first time, the sculptor notices and appreciates her. This is the pictured screenshot: Pygmalion spinning his housekeeper while the statue looks on. I’ve tried finding the video file online, but no success.
I spent longer at the cathedral than planned, so I did not make it to the toy museum. Most everything closes by six, and I was hot and tired, so I returned to the hotel for a nap. The hotel room itself was hot, but at least it wasn’t direct sunlight. Went out later in the evening to stroll around in the cooler weather and to get dinner.