Salzburg's secluded hidden gem

Salzburg is known as the ‘Rome of the North’. The name is a reference to the city’s beautiful baroque architecture, imagined and built by the Catholic Prince Archbishops of the seventeenth century. Tourists are keen to seek out the film locations from the beloved film The Sound of Music and music lovers regularly embark on pilgrimages to the birthplace of Mozart. But this Austrian town has more unusual secret spots to discover too.

Both locals and travellers share a love for Salzburg’s most magnificent palace - Hellbrunn Palace. The palace’s stunning grounds include delightful trick fountains, neatly trimmed lawns and a serene green-blue water garden. But those who only explore this far are missing the estate's most mysterious and impressive attraction.

Away from the picnic field and into the dark green trees, the path winds upwards. Leaving the water gardens behind, the forests of Hellbrunn are still relatively tame, but viewed from the other side the peak looks more like a miniature mountain with rough, craggy cliff edges. There are fewer people up here. The trees absorb the noise and agitation of the surrounding city. Despite the dense trees the paths are wide and clear. If you wander around long enough you’ll stumble upon the monumental stone construction known as the ‘Steintheater’; the Stone Theatre.

When I arrived it was empty, except for a small child with her mother and grandmother. The little girl ran around, clambering up the rocks which form the stage. As she explored, her laughter and shouts were amplified around the open chamber.

The improbability of the place is delightful. The entrance is a sweeping stone archway which collides with the unyielding stone pillar of the adjacent rock, which rises up in strange shapes. It couldn’t be more different from the domesticated and refined gardens only fifteen minutes walk below.

Labyrinthine corners and pathways create a deceptive sense of space, although the whole complex is surprisingly small. The scent of damp earth and the little green plants reaching out of the cracks between the rocks make it feel like you’ve stumbled into some long-forgotten castle. A few supportive columns mark the boundaries, their bricks full of smooth shells. They seem to have been mined from the very sea-floor, adding to the sense of the surreal.

It looks so obviously like a theatre, that it’s surprising to learn it was actually originally a quarry - the stone mined here was used to construct the ornate baroque Hellbrunn palace. But it is no accident that it suits its role so perfectly. In the 17th century the Archbishop Markus Sittikus arranged a theatre to be created out of the quarry cavern, and it’s possible that its final form was even intended before the quarrying began. In 1617 the first opera performance outside of Italy took place here.

Hellbrunn’s construction was inspired by the desire to unite contradictions, which the Steintheater does with elegance. It unites the defining forces of the city itself - the baroque architecture and love of culture. Although the theatre superficially bears no resemblance to the multitude of ornate surrounding palaces, they have more in common than first appears. It is a dedication to the music and arts that are so beloved in Mozart’s hometown. The fact that this altar is carved out of the space left behind by the construction of the city’s finest buildings is rather poetic. Even the stones of Salzburg worship the arts. Whilst those stones are now part of Europe’s most beautiful buildings, the earth they come from continues to play tribute to the art and music intrinsic to Salzburg.