Goldgasse

Gabrielle McGhie, 16, from Nevada, West USA. wrote;

This castle was not only for the royalty that lived there but it was also used as a fortress during many battles. That is why it is located on a cliff overlooking Salzburg. From that angle the residents of the castle had the advantage. This was so because in order to reach the castle...the enemy must first climb the cliff (mountain) or attack at the main entrance. When touring this magnificent castle the only way up there for tourists is to take a trolley....which travels through part of the mountain.

Story by: Guenther Netal

Amateur Historians would assume that the name of one of Salzburg's most charming medieval lanes "Goldgasse" has something to do with that most prized of all precious metal. Gold-dealers or goldsmiths must have set up shop there and lent the street the name of their trade. But it was, in fact, a favorite abode of workman and artisans who came to Salzburg in search of work during the middle Ages and wanted to live in close proximity to the cathedral and its markets in order to search for work. They had to pay a tax for the privilege which was called in those days a "collata". And so the street became known as "Collatagasse", or "Tax Lane". The name mutated over the centuries into "Goldgasse" or Golagasse" and finally Goldgasse". It took other names during the late Middle Ages before again assuming (and one surmises forever?) the name "Gold-gasse". But nomen est omen and the street did attract generations of goldsmiths. Perhaps a sort of early feeling for self-advertisement encouraged goldsmiths to take advantages of the street's name and it became a microcosm of Salzburg's celebrated affinity for buying and selling and offering the very best at prices the affluent were prepared to pay. These facts all stem from a remarkable book by F. V. Zillner, a doctor who published the "History of Salzburg" in 1885. In our age of popularizing history in which entire epochs are described in a few generalizations, his book seems staggeringly complete. Everyone who ever lived in Goldgassse during his early years was documented, including their spouses, their offspring and their professions. The gist of its endless lists of names and dates is that Goldgasse was from its inception, a bustling center of mercantile activity an its houses were the residences of the shopkeepers below. Goldgasse was also the site of Salzburg's first coffee house, where the new and seductive drink was served and one was allowed to "drink tobacco" because the word "smoke was no yet in use. Within its dim vaulted walls the new works of Fischer von Erlach were discussed the heroic deeds of Prince Eugene were evaluated and the electrifying sermons of Abraham a Santa Clara were debated. Goldgasse looks back over a long and rich tradition in the burgher and patrician city of Salzburg and is once again a symbiosis of mercantile expertise and vivid city life.