Salzburg Photos: Kapitelschwemme
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This fountain is the Kapitelschwemme, a former horse well in front of the
current archbishop's palace on Kapitelplatz Square. It looks a bit like a
mini-version of the Trevi Fountain in Rome and is only one of many corners in
which Salzburg resembles the Eternal City. No coincidence: Prince Archbishop
Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau, who ruled over Salzburg in the early 17th century
and introduced major development plans to "upgrade" the Medieval city to a new
version in playful Baroque, grew up in Rome. At the time of his childhood and
youth, Baroque was more or less invented in Rome and Wolf Dietrich took the then
new style to Salzburg - more or less directly from the source. His successors
continued to invest Salzburg's wealth in ever new building projects and between
approximately 1600 and 1750, the face of the city changed into what you see
today. Because of the high number of Baroque churches, Salzburg is often called
"The German Rome". This is of course a shameless exaggeration today, but was
probably less exaggerated in the 17th or 18th century, when Rome was still a
great deal smaller and Salzburg relatively more important.
photo (c) visit-salzburg.net
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