Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg


World Heritage Identification Number: 784

World Heritage since: 1996

Category: Cultural Heritage

Transboundary Heritage: No

Endangered Heritage: No

Country: 🇦🇹 Austria

Continent: Europe

UNESCO World Region: Europe and North America

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The Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg: A Blend of Medieval and Baroque Architecture

The Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg, officially recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996, offers a unique blend of medieval and Baroque architecture that reflects the city's rich history and cultural heritage. Situated on the left and right banks of the Salzach river, this district corresponds to the historic city center of Salzburg, Austria.

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UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site

Salzburg has managed to preserve an extraordinarily rich urban fabric, developed over the period from the Middle Ages to the 19th century when it was a city-state ruled by a prince-archbishop. Its Flamboyant Gothic art attracted many craftsmen and artists before the city became even better known through the work of the Italian architects Vincenzo Scamozzi and Santini Solari, to whom the centre of Salzburg owes much of its Baroque appearance. This meeting-point of northern and southern Europe perhaps sparked the genius of Salzburg’s most famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, whose name has been associated with the city ever since.

UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site

The Committee decided to inscribe the nominated property on the basis of cultural criteria (ii), (iv) and (vi) and considered that the site is of outstanding universal value being an important example of a European ecclesiastical city- state which preserves to a remarkable degree its dramatic townscape, its historically significant urban fabric and a large number of outstanding ecclesiastical and secular buildings from several centuries. It is also noteworthy for its associations with the arts, and in particular with music in the person of its famous son, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.

Encyclopedia Record: Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg

The Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg, also known as the Altstadt, is a district of Salzburg, Austria, recognized as UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1996. It corresponds with the historic city center, situated on the left and right banks of the Salzach river.

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Additional Site Details

Area: 236 hectares

UNESCO Criteria: (ii) — Significant interchange of human values
(iv) — Outstanding example of a type of building or landscape
(vi) — Directly associated with events or living traditions

Coordinates: 47.80055556 , 13.04333333

Image

Image of Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg

© Thomas Pintaric (= Pintaric), CC BY-SA 3.0 Resized from original. (This derivative is under the same CC BY-SA license.)

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Nearby World Heritage Sites

Hallstatt-Dachstein / Salzkammergut Cultural Landscape
53 km — Austria
Historic Centre of Český Krumlov
146 km — Czechia
The Dolomites
148 km — Italy
Old town of Regensburg with Stadtamhof
153 km — Germany
Holašovice Historic Village
159 km — Czechia

Country Information: Austria

Flag of Austria

Official Name: Republic of Austria

Capital: Vienna

Continent: Europe

Population (2024): 9,178,482

Population (2023): 9,131,761

Population (2022): 9,041,851

Land Area: 82,520 sq km

Currency: Euro (EUR)

Country Data Sources

Last updated: January 18, 2026

Portions of the page Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg are based on data from UNESCO — World Heritage List Dataset and on text from the Wikipedia article Historic Centre of the City of Salzburg, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. Changes made. Additional original content by World Heritage Explorer (WHE), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. WHE is not affiliated with UNESCO or the World Heritage Committee. Legal Notice. Privacy Policy.

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