Salzburg Land#

Salzburg Province (German: Salzburg): area 7,154.14 km2; pop. 482,365 (1991); population density: 67 per km2; capital: Salzburg; number of buildings: 102,691; 1 chartered town, 6 administrative districts, 16 court districts, 119 municipalities (of which 4 are towns and 30 are market towns), Oberlandesgericht in Linz, provincial court in the city of Salzburg.

Geographic Location: Salzburg Province is bordered to the north and north-east by Upper Austria, to the south-east by Styria, to the south by Carinthia and East Tyrol (since 1919 by a small part of South Tyrol, Italy), to the west by North Tyrol, to the north-west by Germany (Bavaria), where the Berchtesgadener Land forms a deep pocket ending far into the province. The province was given its name because its rich salt (German: Salz) deposits.

Geographic Features: Five sixths of Salzburg are mountainous; it is located on the northern escarpment of the Eastern Alps on both sides of the River Salzach and on the upper courses of the rivers Saalach, Enns and Mur/Mura. The province comprises parts of the Central Alps zone in the Hohe Tauern Range and Niedere Tauern Mountains ( Hohe Tauern National Park), and also of the Salzburg Schist Alps and Salzburg Limestone Alps, the Prealps and the Alpine Foreland. The north-west of Salzburg is characterised by the numerous lakes of the Salzkammergut District, with Lake Fuschlsee, the largest part of Lake Wolfgangsee and parts of the shores of Lake Mondsee and Lake Attersee. 74 % of the area of the province is drained by the River Salzach (14 % by the River Mur/Mura, 6 % by the River Enns, 4 % by the River Traun, and 2 % by the River Inn) to the River Danube. Salzburg´s mountain lakes and alpine lakes (except for Lake Wallersee and the Trumer Seen Lakes) are located in the glaciated Central Alps. Large parts of the lime stocks are karstic; as barren erosions of the limestone surface were formed, underground water courses and complex cave systems developed ( Eisriesenwelt) in many parts of the Tennengebirge Mountains. Salzburg is divided into natural landscapes which have determined the historical division of the area as well as the contemporary administrative structure: The Alpine Foreland and Salzburg´s part of the Salzkammergut District are called Flachgau, the area of the Limestone Alps and Lammertal valley make up the Tennengau Region, the region around the middle Salzach Valley and Upper Enns Valley is called Pongau Region, the region around Upper Salzach Valley and Saalach Valley Pinzgau Region. The catchment area of the uppermost course of the River Mur is referred to as the Lungau Region.

Climate: Frequently occurring barrier effects on north and north-west air flows in westerly weather systems often cause westerly winds and copious precipitation (also referred to as "Salzburg drizzle") at the northern fringe of the Alps and in the high alpine Limestone Alps. The climate in the Lungau region and in the area of the uppermost course of the River Mur is very continental, often with very low temperatures ("Austrian Siberia") and relatively little precipitation. Fauna and flora are mainly alpine, except for the Salzburg Basin and Flachgau, which have central European fauna and flora. Rare species like the golden eagle, bald eagle, or ravens can be found in the alpine regions; there are also chamois and ibex. There is a great variety of wildlife (an estimated 20,000 species), which have not yet been fully recorded.

Population: The most populous political district is the city of Salzburg with 143,978 inhabitants, followed by the district of Salzburg-Umgebung with 118,137 inhabitants. 29.8 % of the province´s population live in the city of Salzburg, which is the fourth largest city of Austria; the second largest city of the province of Salzburg is Hallein (17,271 inhabitants). Between 1981 and 1991 the province experienced a 9.1 % population increase, which means that Salzburg has the highest population increase of all provinces; this is equally due to immigration and an excess of births over deaths. Characteristics of the traditional Salzburg dialects are the strong aspiration of r (Hro) in initial position, the unround pronunciation of front vowels before l and especially in the Pinzgau Region, the diminutive syllable ai (e.g. Hansai = diminutive of the name Hans). The rural settlements are characterised by 2 different farmhouse types, which are often combined: the Einhof (type of solitary farmhouse) and the Gruppenhof (type of farmhouse with "scattered" buildings). The Einhof-type is mainly found in the pre-alpine area of the Flachgau. The majority of the Gruppenhof types are located in the longitudinal valley of the River Salzach and in the northern part of the Pinzgau (Pinzgauer Paarhof and Haufenhof) and also in the Salzachpongau area and the Ennspongau area (Pongauer Paarhof). In the northern Foreland ("Lamprechtshausen triangle") there are Gruppenhof types in a regular arrangement as Dreiseithof (trilateral type of farmstead) and Vierseithof (quadrilateral type of farmstead), which are also found in the Innviertel Region.

Agriculture: The humid climate favours ley farming (alternate growing of crops and grass). 83 % of the agriculturally used area are woodland, meadows, pastures and Alpine pastures (21 % of all Austrian Alpine pastures, ( Alpine pasture husbandry), about 1 % of the land is arable land. Farming is only relevant in the northeastern part of the Flachgau and in the Lungau area. Around the city of Salzburg there is intensive horticulture and vegetable farming. The emphasis of agricultural production is on animal husbandry, in the Alpine Foreland dairy farming is predominant, in the mountainous areas with many pastures there is cattle breeding (Pinzgauer Rind), horse breeding (Pinzgauer Horse and Noriker, an ancient breed of horse) and sheep breeding. Salzburg is the biggest producer of Emmental cheese in Austria. Large resources of wood (39 % of the economically exploited area is forest) are very important for the timber (183 sawmills), woodworking, paper and cellulose industries (Hallein); sawn wood, wooden products and paper are important export items.

Economy: After the Second World War Salzburg´s agriculture underwent enormous structural changes, which went hand in hand with massive job losses: Between1951 and 1991 38,325 persons (59 % of the workforce) drifted away from agriculture and forestry. But Salzburg actually never had a purely rural economic and social structure; as well as agriculture, mining and transport with horsedrawn carriages and packhorses over the Tauern passes have always been a significant source of income.

The production of mineral resources like silver, gold (Gastein Valley and Rauris Valley), copper (Muehlbach am Hochkoenig), iron ore (Tenneck) and salt (Hallein-Duerrnberg) stopped in the 20th  century. Today natural stone (marble in Adnet and Untersberg Mountain, diabase in Saalfelden), cement marl (in Gartenau), gypsum (in Kuchl), sand and gravel are mined. The tungsten mine on the Felber Tauern Pass, which had been opened in 1977, was temporarily discontinued in 1993. From the long term perspective, Salzburg´s economy shows the strongest dynamism among all Austrian provinces. In 1998 it grew by 2.3 % in real terms and by 3.3 % in money terms; the gross regional product rose in 1998 by about ATS 6 billion to about ATS 176 billion. The added value per capita, which amounts to ATS 342,000, exceeds the general Austrian rate of ATS 325,000 and is clearly above both the EU level and OECD levels. With a taxation rate of ATS 78,400 per inhabitant Salzburg was far above the Austrian rate of ATS 65,000 in 1998 and first among the Austrian provinces (excluding Vienna). Since the 1960s the engineering, iron, metal goods and electrical and electronic industries have undergone a rapid development and account for nearly 19 % of the value of production and more than 58 % of the value of exports; they employ more than 36 % of the workforce of Salzburg´s industrial sector. Further important sectors are the food, beverage and tobacco industry (beer, confectionery, bread, cakes and pastries, spices) and the construction and stone and ceramics industries. Although there are some very efficient enterprises in the clothes manufacturing industry, the textile industry and the leather goods industry, their number has decreased in recent years and the formerly important production of Loden has completely disappeared. The audiovisual industry, film-making and the production of electronic sound and data storage media has become increasingly important; at the same time production-related services, especially distribution (wholesale trade, transport) and tourism, are expanding. The fact that Salzburg is bordered by Germany proved to be an advantage for the founding of new companies, at least until Austria's accession to the EU. There is a divide between the north and some economically weaker regions in the south (Werfen, Bischofshofen, Gastein Valley, Upper Pinzgau Region). 72 % of the 15,260 newly created jobs between 1989 and 1998 were in the city of Salzburg, the Flachgau and the Tennengau. The province of Salzburg has 721 industrial businesses and more than 13,792 small and medium-sized enterprises. The foundation of technological innovation centres has been of significant importance for the economic development of the province, among them are the Salzburg Technology Centres in the city of Salzburg (communications technology and computer technology), in Bischofshofen (environmental issues), in Mariapfarr (wood technology) and Zell am See (tourism and sports technology). The most important electricity suppliers are the Salzburger Gesellschaft fuer Elektrizitaetswirtschaft ( SAFE), the Staedtische Elektrizitaetswerke and the Tauernkraftwerke AG (TKW), which operate hydroelectric power plants in Salzburg and Tyrol.

Tourism: Tourism is an important economic factor, especially when combined with cultural events: One in every three jobs directly or indirectly depends on tourism. With 20,123,884 overnight stays (1997) Salzburg is second in tourism statistics after Tyrol. The municipalities of Saalbach-Hinterglemm, Salzburg, Zell am See and Bad Hofgastein hold the leading positions with more than 1 million overnight stays a year. In 1997 Saalbach-Hinterglemm was second with 1.8 million overnight stays after Vienna (7.2 million overnight stays). Due to its favourable situation as regards transport facilities and road networks, the festivals, the many winter or summer sport resorts and places of extraordinary natural beauty ( Hohe Tauern National Park, Krimml Waterfalls, Eisriesenwelt, Liechtensteinklamm Gorge etc.) Salzburg offers a great variety of tourist attractions. Bad Gastein and Bad Hofgastein, with their radioactive thermal springs and the Gastein Heilstollen (therapy tunnel) are famous all over the world; in addition, there are many other spas and health resorts. The numerous lakes in Flachgau (Lake Wallersee, Lake Mattsee, Lake Obertrum, Lake Grabensee, the small Egelseen lakes) are ideal for summer holidays, Lake Fuschlsee and Lake Wolfgangsee in the Salzkammergut District and the Tennengau for both summer and winter holidays. Famous winter sport resorts and regions are in the Enns Basin, at the foothills in the Radstaedter Tauern Mountains (Sportwelt Amade) and in Obertauern. The Gastein Valley and Grossarl Valley are ideal for winter sports, hiking and mountaineering. In the Pinzgau Region around Lake Zeller See there is the "Europa-Sportregion Zell am See/Kaprun" and the winter sports resort of Saalbach. In addition, Salzburg offers great possibilities for paragliding, hang gliding, kayak sports or rafting (rivers Salzach, Saalach, Lammer, Enns and Mur).

Traffic and Transport: Salzburg is a mountainous province and has an extensive road network, some roads even date back to Roman times ( Roman Roads). Due to its central traffic position in Europe, Salzburg is an important transit area; it is located at the intersection of the north-south axis and the west-east axis of international traffic routes (Tauernautobahn A 10 and Westautobahn A 1). The Tauern Railway and the Western Railway are the busiest railway lines in Austria. The airport of Salzburg-Maxglan ranks second in air traffic after Vienna International Airport.

Culture and the Arts: Salzburg has been a centre of European culture and European art for many centuries, and is internationally renowned in the field of music. The "Moench von Salzburg" (Monk of Salzburg, 14th  century), whose name is unknown, was one of the most popular poets and composers of the Middle Ages. One of the great achievements of organ-building is the "Salzburger Stier", a mechanical barrel organ at Hohensalzburg Castle, built in 1502. Famous artists like H. Finck (1445-1527) and P. Hofhaimer (1459-1537) were attached to the court of the archbishops; composers of the Baroque period were H. I. F. Biber, G. Muffat, J. Eberlin, Leopold Mozart, J. M. Haydn, who is also called "the Salzburg Haydn", and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. The musical tradition was revived with the foundation of the Mozarteum and the Salzburg Festival, outstanding personalities were B. Paumgartner and H. v. Karajan, who founded the Salzburg Easter Festival.

Great works of literature were already created in the 9th  century with the "Carmina Salisburgensia", the Salzburg Annals and the "Conversio Bagoariorum et Carantanorum" ("About the Conversion of Bavarians and Carantanians"). During the Baroque period, the Salzburg University Theatre enjoyed international fame. During the Enlightenment, when Salzburg became the most important centre after Vienna, publicists like L. Huebner and F. M. Vierthaler worked in Salzburg. Literature reached new heights with G. Trakl, H. Bahr, S. Zweig and K. H. Waggerl in the first half of the 20th  century.

The beginnings of a school and a scriptorium date back to the time of the first Archbishop, Arno (785-821), the cathedral chapter and Saint Peter´s Monastery maintained libraries and monastic schools. Under Archbishop Friedrich II von Walchen (1270-1284) law studies were introduced to Salzburg. The physician and alchemist T. B. von Hohenheim, also called Paracelsus, was active in Salzburg in 1524/1525. Bishop B. Puerstinger von Chiemsee was one of the most important theologians of the early 16th  century and exerted great influence with his reform writings, J. v. Staupitz, who was the superior and mentor of M. Luther, worked from 1522 until 1524 as abbot of Saint Peter´s Monastery. Early plans for the foundation of a university in the 15th and 16th  centuries failed, but a Gymnasium school endowed with the right to grant degrees was established in 1617. In 1622/1623 a Benedictine University was founded (Alma Mater Paridiana), whose Faculties of Theology, Philosophy and Law were complemented by medical studies in 1804. Several internationally renowned scholars worked in Salzburg in the late 18th  century. The Salzburg museum Carolino Augusteum was established in 1834, the Gesellschaft fuer Salzburger Landeskunde (Society for Salzburg Area Studies) was founded in 1860. Salzburg University was re-established in 1962, the Mozarteum became an institution of higher learning in 1971 and in 1998 was given the status of university. The International Research Centre for Basic Questions of Science, the Institute for Molecular Biology of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, the Salzburg University Weeks, the Humanismusgespraeche (Humanist Symposium) of the ORF (Austrian Broadcasting Corporation) and many other institutions show that scholarly and intellectual activities continue to prosper in Salzburg.

As regards the fine arts, masterpieces from Salzburg have been dispersed all over the world (e.g. Roman mosaics from Loig in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, gold vessels of the Archbishop Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau in the Palazzo Pitti in Florence). Under Bishop Virgil (746/747-784) the famous Tassilo Chalice of Kremsmuenster and the Cutbercht Evangelistary were produced in Salzburg. Bishop Virgil´s Cathedral, which was consecrated in 772, was even larger than the Frankish national shrine of Saint Denis, the St. Rupert cross was probably brought to Salzburg by Virgil himself. During the 9th  century architects, painters and stonemasons from Salzburg carried their art as far as the court of the Slav Prince Přiwina at Mosapurc (Zalavár in western Hungary). Outstanding works of book illumination were created until the early 16th  century (Pericopae of Custodian Pertholt, 11th  century, Antiphonary of St. Peter´s, splendid bibles and ornamental carved leather book covers by U. Schreier).

Outstanding examples of painting can be seen in the frescoes of the Nonnberg collegiate church (around 1150), but the older mural paintings of the collegiate church of Lambach (around 1080/1090), the fragments in the abbey church of Frauenchiemsee (around 1130) and the frescoes of Puergg in Styria are also attributed to artists from Salzburg. In the late Middle Ages the painters K. Laib, R. Frueauf the Elder and M. Pacher created panel paintings for large altars. During the High Baroque period - following in the steps of the Italian painters of Mannerism and Early Baroque - the Lederwasch family from the Lungau and J. M. Rottmayr emerged as important figures. In the Late Baroque and Rococo, P. Troger and J. Zanusi and M. J. Schmidt ("Kremser Schmidt") created masterpieces for the city of Salzburg. H. Makart became the most important painter of the 19th  century, during the 20th  century A. Faistauer and O. Kokoschka, who founded the "Schule des Sehens" (School of Seeing), continued Salzburg´s painting tradition.

Masterly sculptures include the Romanesque crucifixes in Nonnberg convent and in the Salzburg museum Carolino Augusteum (also the tympanum of St. Mary from the Romanesque cathedral); also significant are: the Romanesque tympana of the main portal of the Nonnberg collegiate church, of the south portal of the Franziskanerkirche church, of the main portal of Saint Peter´s collegiate church and the lion in the Siegmund-Haffner-Gasse lane. Along with the "Schoene Madonnen" of the "weicher Stil" in the early 15th  century (Maria Saeul in Saint Peter´s, Madonna in the Franciscan monastery), H. Valkenauer was the most important sculptor towards the end of the Middle Ages. Along with Italian artists, H. Waldburger became the leading sculptor in Salzburg during the Early Baroque period; the Residenzbrunnen fountain (1626-1661) was probably built by T. G. Allio. During the period of the "Austrian Baroque" B. Permoser and G. R. Donner created a number of masterpieces, including the marble stairs in Mirabell Palace. In the 20th  century J. Adlhart the Younger made monumental works for Saint Peter´s and the Festspielhaus; the gates of the cathedral, fountains and statues were made by G. Manzù and T. Schneider-Manzell.

History: There is no other province in Austria where history, culture and the arts have been as much dominated by the capital city as in Salzburg. Finds in the Schlenken corridor cave (near Hallein) and on the Oberrainerkogel mountain (near Unken im Pinzgau) suggest that there were settlements as early as the Old Stone Age (Paleoolithic Age). In the Bronze Age and the Urnfield Culture copper mining was carried out, especially in the area around Muehlbach am Hochkoenig, around Bischofshofen and in the Glemm Valley in the Pinzgau Region. Salt was extracted as early as the 6th  century B.C. and particularly during the era of the Celts from around 450 B.C. until after the birth of Christ. on Duerrnberg Mountain near Hallein, which surpasses the older Hallstatt Culture both in the production of salt and in the number of finds. Salzburg was situated in the territory of the Celtic kingdom of Noricum and was occupied by Roman troops 15 B.C. without any resistance on the part of the indigenous population except for the Ambisont people in the Pinzgau region. Under Roman rule an extensive district belonged to the municipium of Iuvavum, which was significantly larger than today´s province of Salzburg and extended to the River Inn. The estate of Loig on the outskirts of the city of Salzburg was among the largest Roman estates ("villae rusticae") in the area of contemporary Austria (Theseus Mosaic of Loig in the Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna). The road over the Radstaedter Tauern Pass was one of the most important Roman mountain roads in Europe. Because of the increasing threat posed by the Alemanni, many inhabitants left their Roman estates from the end of the 4th  century onwards. After St. Severinus had come to Cucullis (Kuchl) and had prevented the breakdown of the Roman administration, King Odovakar ordered the retreat of the Romans in 488 A.D. The majority of the Celtic-Roman population stayed on and established a relatively cohesive Roman settlement south of the city of Salzburg up to the Lueg Pass.

In the 6th  century Salzburg was settled by the Bavarians, and Slavs settled in some lateral valleys of the River Salzach (Slavic place names like Lungoetz im Lammertal, Mandling) and in the whole region of the Lungau (belonged to Carinthia until the 13th  century). Bishop Rupert, who first came to Lake Wallersee in 696/700, then to Iuvavum, was instructed by Duke Theodo of Bavaria to develop and christianise Southern Bavaria (Noricum) and in return received rich estates, such as large parts of the brine springs of Reichenhall, which devolved upon his successors. The town and the diocese, and later also the province ruled by the bishops, were named Salzburg after the salt mined there. Rupert established the monastery of St. Maximilian in the Pongau (Bischofshofen) as a first base for the christianisation of the Slavs. His successor Virgil organised the missionary work among the Slavs in Carantania (Carinthia), which was completed with the help of Duke Tassilo III in 772. In the 9th  century the area around Lake Balaton in Pannonia (Hungary) became a further target of missionary activities, but it was lost again after defeat by the Magyars near Bratislava in 907. The outposts in Lower Austria (Arnsdorf and Loiben in der Wachau, Traismauer), in Styria (Leibnitz, Deutschlandsberg, Pettau/Ptuj) and in Carinthia (Friesach, Althofen, Maria Saal), which had become part of the Archdiocese of Salzburg due to a generous donation by King Ludwig der Deutsche (Louis the German) and his successors in 860, largely remained under archiepiscopal rule until 1803/1810 as "foreign possessions".

Archbishop Konrad I (1105-1147) tried to protect the scattered estates belonging to the Erzstift (the land donated by kings, dukes, etc., headed by the Archbishop, who was also vested with sovereign rights over these areas, also called "Hochstift") of Salzburg by improving and enlarging strong castles (Hohensalzburg, Hohenwerfen, Friesach, Leibnitz, Pettau, etc.). However, only the vast wooded region of the Pongau area, which the archbishops had cleared and settled, showed signs of the development of cohesive rule. After setbacks during the Investiture Controversy and the Alexandrine Schism, when Emperor Friedrich I Barbarossa had taken the Erzstift temporarily under his administration, Archbishop Eberhard II (1200-1246) and Emperor Friedrich II managed to set up a cohesive territory. They subsequently acquired imperial privileges in the Lungau area (1213), the counties in the Pinzgau (1228) and Lebenau county (around Tittmoning): their successors added the jurisdictions and estates of the Counts of Plain (1249/1260) and Gastein Valley (1297). The area north and north-east of the city of Salzburg, which is now called Flachgau, was added not until the end of the 14th  century. Although the Archbishops had been imperial princes since the 12th  century, the areas ruled by them were still considered to be parts of the Duchy of Bavaria in the early 14th  century. It was only after Archbishop Friedrich III of Salzburg and the Habsburg Friedrich the Fair were defeated near Muehldorf in 1322, that Salzburg and Bavaria were separated. In 1328 the Archbishop was pressurised by the aristocracy into issuing a "Landesordnung", and in 1342 Archbishop Heinrich for the first time spoke about "my land". The provincial estates soon showed a strong tendency to have their own rulers, but in the 15th  century they could not prevail over the archbishops: this ended in feuds and in internal decline, which culminated in the "Hungarian War" (1479-1490).

The early 16th  century, under Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach (1495-1519) was marked by economic and political consolidation. During the rule of his successor, Cardinal Matthaeus Lang von Wellenburg (1519-1540), an uprising of miners and peasants led by the mineowners of Gastein and Rauris was put down in 1525 before the walls of Hohensalzburg Castle. In 1526 there was another revolt against the archiepiscopal rule led by M. Gaismair from Tyrol. In the early 13th  century Archbishop Eberhard II made Hallein the leading centre of salt production in the Eastern Alps, in the mid-16th  century gold and silver mining flourished in Gastein and in Rauris, and by 1566 Gastein was the leading gold producer in Europe with an output of 803 kg of gold.

The luxurious life led by the archbishops during the Baroque period, such as Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, Marcus Sitticus and Paris Lodron, coincided with a period of economic decline and was financed by rigorous and exploitative taxation. Paris Lodron was able to keep up Salzburg´s neutrality during the Thirty Year´s War. In the late 17th  century and in the 18th  century the influence of the Counter Reformation became stronger and stronger: while the Protestant inhabitants of Defereggen Valley (in East Tyrol) had to leave their homes as early as 1684, the great Protestant emigration did not start until 1731/1732. More than 20,000 peasants and farmhands, especially from the Pongau, the Pinzgau and the Lungau regions, left the Erzstift, and most of them settled in Eastern Prussia; the miners of Duerrnberg, who left for the Netherlands in late autumn of 1732, were hit hardest. Under the last Prince-Archbishop, Count Hieronymus Colloredo (b. 1772-1803, d. 1812), Salzburg became the centre of Enlightenment in Southern Germany. The strict financial policy of the Prince led to a reduction in art and culture at the court. Colloredo fled to Vienna in December 1800 during the Napoleonic Wars, from here he ruled the Archdiocese until 1812, whose status as ecclesiastical principality had come to an end under the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss in 1803. A short period as an Electorate (1803-1805), which was given to Grand Duke Ferdinand III as compensation for his loss of Tuscany, was followed by the first period of Austrian rule (1805-1809), Salzburg then came under French administration (1809/1810) and subsequently under Bavarian rule for six years (1810-1816); Salzburg finally became a part of Austria after the Congress of Vienna.

While the university had been abolished under Bavarian rule, thus undermining academic activity, the first decades under the Habsburgs brought about an economic and political low when Salzburg was incorporated into the "Land Oesterreich ob der Enns" (Austria above the River Enns) and lost both the Prince-Archbishop´s court and the governmental authorities. The Revolution of 1848 led to the establishment of an autonomous crownland of Salzburg in 1850, which was completed with the convention of the Landtag (provincial diet) in 1861. From then an economic upswing was effected with the construction of the Western Railway and the Tauern Railway, the establishment of the cellulose factory in Hallein, intensive construction work in the provincial capital and increasing tourism, which lasted until the First World War and afterwards received new impetus with the Salzburg Festival and the economic program of Landeshauptmann (provincial governor) Dr. F. Rehrl (erection of the Kleines Festspielhaus, construction of the Grossglockner Hochalpenstrasse, the Gaisbergstrasse road, the Fuscher Baerenwerk and the planning of the Tauernkraftwerke). With the 1934 Concordat the rights to appoint the bishops ("Eigenbischoefe") in the dioceses of Gurk-Klagenfurt, Seckau-Graz and Lavant-Marburg/Maribor, which once had made the Archbishop of Salzburg a "near-pope", were lost, but up to this day the Archbishop of Salzburg is considered a "born legate" (legatus natus), wears the purple robe of a legate and has the honorary title of "Primas Germaniae".

National Socialism found many followers in Salzburg. During the Second World War both the provincial capital and the industrial town of Hallein suffered heavy bombing and 15,000 people died. In 1945 Salzburg (as the "Golden West" under American occupation) hosted the "Laenderkonferenzen" (provincial conferences), during which the western provinces declared their accession to the Republic of Austria under the Renner administration. The continuing success of the Salzburg Festival and the great increase in tourism, the introduction of the Easter Festival and steady economic growth resulted in above-average prosperity after the end of the Second World War. When the Mozarteum was raised to the rank of an institution of higher learning (later a university) and the university was re-established (1962), intellectual and artistic life was also intensified.

Salzburg is governed by a provincial constitution according toe the law of 1999 (LGBL.: provincial law gazette 25/1999). Legislation is in the hands of Landtag (provincial diet), whose 36 members are elected for 5 years. Currently (1999) Salzburg has 11 seats in the Nationalrat (National Council) and 4 seats in the Bundesrat; the Landeshauptmann (provincial governor) is a member of the OeVP. The provincial government is made up of 4 representatives of the OeVP, 3 of the SPOe.

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