Salzburg Cathedral

Salzburg Cathedral tickets: which one to buy

The cathedral asks for a voluntary donation rather than a ticket, so entry is effectively free; a small charge applies to the cathedral museum and to the excavations under the nave. The better buy is the DomQuartier pass, which links the cathedral's oratory galleries with the Residenz state rooms, the residence gallery and the abbey museum of St Peter in one circuit through the archbishops' old private route, and takes two to three hours. Organ concerts at midday in summer are free or nearly so and last half an hour;

evening concerts of Haydn and Mozart in the nave are ticketed by promoters and priced accordingly. Guided walking tours of the old town include the cathedral and cost several times the donation, which buys the Mozart connections and the prince-archbishops' politics. Nothing needs booking except concerts and festival events. Mozart was baptised here and the font is still in use, which is why a small crowd forms around it at almost any hour of the day.

Visiting Salzburg Cathedral: what to see

A church has stood on this spot since 774, rebuilt after fires and finally demolished in 1598 by an archbishop who wanted something Italian. Santino Solari's cathedral, consecrated in 1628, brought full Roman Baroque north of the Alps for the first time: a bright white interior under a dome 71 metres high, with five thousand seats and stucco rather than gilding, so the effect is light instead of heavy. Seven bells hang in the towers, including the Salvator bell of 1961, one of the largest in Austria.

The bronze font of 1321 survives from the medieval church and is where Mozart was baptised in 1756; he later worked here as court organist, and the cathedral has five organs, played in rotation during services. In the crypt, the foundations of the earlier churches are exposed, with a modern installation of light and sound in the lower chamber. American bombing in 1944 destroyed the dome, and the restoration was completed in 1959.

Salzburg Cathedral opening hours and the best time to go

Open daily from early morning to evening in summer, closing earlier in winter and on Sundays when services take priority. The midday organ concert in July and August is the best half hour in the building and needs no ticket. Salzburg fills for the summer festival from late July to the end of August, when the cathedral square hosts the annual open-air performance of Jedermann and the front of the church becomes a stage set;

visiting is still possible but the square is occupied and the noise carries. December brings the Christkindlmarkt to the same square, which is the prettiest time to approach the building. Dress modestly. Photography without flash is allowed in the nave. Allow half an hour for the cathedral alone, two to three hours for the DomQuartier circuit, which ends on a terrace looking down into the nave from the organ loft, the view most visitors remember afterwards.