Mirabell Palace and Mirabell Gardens: Top Attractions of Salzburg
Salzburg is home to castles, forts, museums, cathedrals, yet the Mirabell Palace and Mirabell Gardens beats them all in terms of rankings in top attractions of Salzburg. Being the birth place of Mozart, the great musician, the city was already accustomed to its fame. The super success of the movie Sound of Music added to the already boisterous image of the city.
The last destination of our walking tour of Salzburg was Mirabell Palace. We intended to rest and refresh ourselves here. Just at the entrance the kids were excited to spot a cow colorfully painted with Sound of Music theme.
Mirabell Palace and Mirabell Gardens
Mirabell Schloss
Mirabell, the word is combination of the words mirabile, which means admirable and bella which translates to beautiful. This is a popular woman’s name in Italy and now in several other countries too.
The original Baroque palace on this site was built in 1606 by Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, the most famous of Salzburg’s three archbishop-princes who elevated the city to a foremost rank in the Holy Roman Empire. There was a picture of him in one of my previous posts.
Painted Cow just in front of Mirabell Palace
Mirabell Palace is grand but it is the Palace gardens that win the hearts! The palace ambience has to be experienced to fully appreciate its grandeur. Nevertheless here is a bit about the palace.
The Marble Hall is the most happening place because of its reputation of being the most beautiful hall in the world. It was formerly a banquet hall of the prince archbishops. Celebrities of yesteryear, geniuses like Leopold Mozart, his children, Wolfgang and Nannerl, are said to have made music here.
The Mirabell castle is beautiful. Today the beautiful hall hosts weddings, conferences and awards ceremonies. It functions as office to Salzburg mayor and other officials.
Pegasus Fountain
The Pegasus Fountain featuring a sculpture of the horse, Pegasus. An addition of 20th century, it is a work by Kaspar Gras from Innsbruck and was installed in 1913. In the film Sound of Music, Maria and the children dance around the Pegasus Fountain in front of the palace, singing the song “Do Re Mi”.
See another Horse Fountain of Salzburg: Horse Fountain Residenzplatz
Pegasus Statue Fountain Mirabell Schloss Salzburg
Mirabell Gardens
At last we were in Mirabell Gardens. It looked so familiar to us. We seemed to know most parts of the Mirabell gardens because of the innumerable times we saw the Sound of Music movie. This garden was one of the prime locations of shooting of this movie. Walking in the gardens, it is very easy to get transported, as in dreams, to the scenes of the movie and imagine yourself playing the various characters.
The Rose Garden with its ornamental rose beds is located directly south of Schloss Mirabell. But the garden has collection of several other flowers too. We visited just at the onset of spring so we got to see several varieties of tulips. Do check my special post : Tulip Flowers of Mirabell Gardens.
Mirabell Gardens Interesting Facts
The Mirabell Garden is more famous. It is easily accessible without any tickets.
History of Mirabell Garden: It was laid out in 1687 during the reign of Prince-Archibishop Johann Ernst von Thun. The garden has the same design as it had in 1690 when it was completed.
The geometrical patterns along which the flowering plants are planted are still the same. Various statues scattered all around including that of nine dwarfs depict unique characters. It definitely is a sensational place to see.
At the heart of Mirabell Gardens is The Grand Parterre. It is the oldest part of Mirabell Garten and still preserved well. The garden is symmetrical and the center of the Grand Parterre is a large fountain.
It is surrounded by statues of four different mythology themed characters. They symbolize the 4 elements: fire, air, earth and water. These statues were sculpted in 1690 by Ottavio Mosto.
Fountain in The Grand Parterre Mirabell Gardens
- First from your left: Paris kidnapping Helen, the most beautiful damsel of Bronze Age world, wife of King of Sparta.
- Second from your left: Hercules crushing Antheus.
- Third from your left: Abduction of Proserpina by Pluto. He was the underworld God, took her underworld and later made her his wife.
- Fourth from your left: Aeneas fleeing Troy with his father
Mythology themed statues Mirabell Gardens
Mirabell Gardens were first opened to the public in 1854, by Emperor Franz Joseph.
This garden was designed by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach within the Mirabell palace grounds. Later it has been redesigned a few times over the years.
Major highlight of this is that it has characteristics of a Baroque garden. The garden is laid out in such a manner that it includes vistas outside the garden into its design.
You can observe this feature from Rosehill, on the south side of the Palace. Run your eyes from the Small Parterre to the Fountain of Pegasus. Look beyond; you will see the dome and steeples of the Cathedral of Salzburg and Hohensalzburg Fortress.
There is a cute little Dwarf Garden with several statues of dwarfs made from white Untersberg marble (I lost count of them). Originally there were 28 but now there are only 17, I read up later. This came up during the rule of Archbishop Franz Anton Fürst Harrach.
This garden is unique because it is the oldest of its kind in Europe. The Dwarf Garden of Mirabell Garten is closed during winter months.
Open Timings to Mirabell Palace and Gardens
Mirabell Palace and Angel Staircase: daily from 8 am to 6 pm
Marble Hall: Monday, Wednesday, Thursday 8 am to 4 pm, Tuesday, Friday: 1 pm to 4 pm But no visit allowed in case of special occasions.
No tickets are required to enter any part of the palace or gardens. Admission is free.
The other rooms not open to public as they house the municipal council.
Mirabell Gardens open daily from 6 am to dusk.
Hedge Theater: closed during the winter months.
Orangerie: open all year round, daily 9 am-4 pm.
Dwarf Garden: closed during winter months.
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Marvellous photo – I loved the second one!
Wonderful post, Indrani!
Very nice the picture of the fountain with the cloudy sky!
nice place…
nice photos…
"HAPPY ONAM TO YOUR & YOUR FAMILY"
That is one incredible place. hose flowers are gorgeous.
Very beautiful and interesting to know that the Von Trapp kids in the Sound of Music sang here.
Great architecture and beautiful gardens.
It must have been a real pleasure to actually be in that garden. Your pictures are absolute beautiful.
Salzburg looks like a very pretty place to visit!
Nice pictures, I love the frames and perspectives.
The first one looks quite imposing!
Your post brings back wonderful memories of the movie and its music. And don't the caretakers of the symmetrical gardens do a fantastic job. 🙂
Indrani, the tour of the gardens and palace was lovely. I remember the gardens in the movie. Thanks for sharing your lovely photos.
I am always excited to see your posts from Europe. Such a pity the palace is used for administration, I would rather have seen it used as a hotel that retained the beauty of the interior.
Thank you for taking as with you . . . I bet you were both Liesel and Maria when you were there.
It looks really beautiful ! Of course I don't remember !
Sehr eindrücklich liebe Indrani…
Liebe Grüsse aus der Schweiz
Hans-Peter
what a beautiful place!!!
the garden is just beautiful. i can only imagine the amount involved in maintaining such garden.
Lovely place …
Beautiful place.
What a beuatiful place. Thanks for sharing.
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º° ✿♥ Olá, amiga!
Lindo… para belas fotos.
Beijinhos.
Brasil°º♥
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Beautiful place and nice pictures.
What a wonderful place to visit. The garden and architecture are both fantastic.
Brilliant. Lovely gardens.
What a beautiful place and such a wonderful post and captures for the day, Indrani! I love the gardens! Thanks for sharing the history and the beauty! Hope you have a great week!
Sylvia