The oldest parts of the Hohensalzburg Fortress date back to 1077, when Gebhard, loyal to the Pope, tried to protect himself from troops loyal to the emperor during the beginning of the investiture dispute. The curtain wall around the castle was renewed in the time of the first peasant unrest and the first threat from the Turks 1465–1485 and reinforced around 1500 by Leonhard von Keutschach. He furnished the castle with sumptuous princely rooms and built the tearing train, the world’s oldest surviving funicular railway. Paris Lodron expanded the medieval castle into a fortress by providing it with a strong outer ring of artillery bastions. He had the Hasengrabentorbastei, the Hasengrabenbasteien and the two Nonnbergbasteien built and the so-called cat was considerably strengthened. With over 7,000 m², including the bastions with over 14,000 m² of built-up area, the fortress is one of the largest castles in Europe.
Todays use:
Thanks to its good state of preservation and its location, Hohensalzburg is a crowd puller. The outer fortress can be visited without a guide; A guided tour with audio guides is available for an internal part of the tour (salt magazine, torture chamber, high tower, battlements, Salzburg bull); the interiors on the high floor (princely rooms, museums) are visited single-handedly. In the summer months there has been a “Special Guided Tour” in German and English since July 2009, which has to be paid extra and takes visitors on a walk through the 16th century. Otherwise closed rooms such as the Pfisterei (old bakery), the wine cellar, the Kuenburgbastei or the Viereckige Wehr can only be visited during such special tours.
For residents of the federal state of Salzburg, admission to the outdoor area is free.
In addition to the sightseeing, concerts are held regularly. The church is also used, for example for church weddings or on some selected public holidays. The Salzburg Marionette Museum with historical holdings of the Salzburg Marionette Theater is also located on the fortress, as well as the Museum of the K.u.k. Infantry Regiment Archduke Rainer Regiment No. 59. There are also courses from the International Summer Academy for Fine Arts Salzburg.