Permanent Exhibition

Eucharistic Dove, Limoges, 1200/1225

The Salzburg Cathedral Museum is devoted to the art and the culture of one of the oldest Archbishoprics in German-speaking territories.

The exhibition rooms in the upper story of the Cathedral, the so-called oratories, are well worth seeing even by themselves. On the north side, the Rupert Oratory is gorgeously decorated with stuccowork and paintings. To get there the visitor has to pass the organ loft, which allows for an impressive view of the Cathedral’s nave.

The Cathedral Museum is also the Museum of the Archdiocese and displays valuable sacral works of art that are no longer in use from various Salzburg parishes.

The Cathedral treasure consists of liturgical utensils and vestments from the 12th to 18th centuries. Among the medieval goldsmith pieces must be specially mentioned the double-armed reliquary cross from Hungary (about 1100), which Hungarian kings possibly used when giving their oaths, as well as the Eucharistic dove (1200/1225).

Michael Pacher, Workshop, Madonna with Child, about 1495

Archbishop Wolf Dietrich (1587-1612), who at the beginning of the baroque period completely reorganized the city of Salzburg enriched the cathedral treasure with a number of outstanding goldsmith pieces including the monstrance from the year 1596 and a missal (1598/1599) with an enamel-decorated cover. The unique jewel-studded monstrance completed in 1697 is the main work of the court goldsmith Ferdinand Sigmund Amende and was commissioned by Archbishop Johann Ernst Thun (1687-1709).
The museum’s most significant treasure is the so-called St. Rupert’s Cross from Bischofshofen. It is the largest still intact metal cross dating from the first millennium of Christianity, is about 1300 years old and was most probably mounted in the first Salzburg Cathedral.

Paul Troger, Christ and Nicodemus, 1739

Many remarkable works are found among the paintings and sculptures of the 14th to 18th centuries. The medieval pieces include the altar panel from Pfarrwerfen (about 1425/30) and a Madonna by the workshop of Michael Pacher (1495-1500). There are significant works of all Salzburg baroque masters in the museum: Georg Raphael Donner, Johann Michael Rottmayr and Paul Troger.