© Dommuseum/J. Kral
07. 05. 12. - 15:38
Archbishop Marcus Sitticus von Hohenems exhibition opens
Salzburg's Cathedral Museum will commemorate the four hundredth anniversary of the accession of Archbishop Marcus Sitticus von Hohenems to the throne with a special exhibition.
The cornerstone of the rebuilding of the Salzburg Cathedral was laid during his short 7-year term of office. He enlisted the services of Santino Solari to build Hellbrunn Palace with its park and fountains, had the Residence enlarged, two churches built and the main gates of the city replaced.
Hellbrunn was only meant for use as a day residence in summer, as the Archbishop usually returned to Salzburg in the evening. Therefore, there is no bedroom in Hellbrunn.
Hellbrunn is also famous for its jeux d'eau ("watergames") in the grounds, which are a popular tourist attraction in the summer months. These games were conceived by Markus Sittikus, a man with a keen sense of humour, as a series of practical jokes to be performed on guests. Notable features include stone seats around a stone dining table through which a water conduit sprays water into the seat of the guests when the mechanism is activated, and hidden fountains that surprise and spray guests while they take part on the tour. Other features are a mechanical, water-operated and music-playing theatre built in 1750 showing various professions at work, a grotto and a crown being pushed up and down by a jet of water, symbolising the rise and fall of power. At all of these games there is always a spot which is never wet: that where the Archbishop stood or sat, to which there is no water conduit and which is today occupied by the tour guide.
He succeeded in keeping Salzburg out of the Thirty Years' War through his policies.
The exhibition will show the only golden basin with his coat of arms from the Palazzo Pitti in Florence as well as portraits from the former Hohenems gallery in the Czech Republic and a view of Hellbrunn and the Cathedral that have never been on display in Salzburg before. Magnificent vestments bear witness to the archbishop's self-projection, goblets and altar paintings he donated to parishes and brotherhoods of his battle against the Reformation.
The exhibition is on display from 11 May to 28 October.
