Flooded with light, the new glass and steel structure links Mozarteum’s existing buildings, creating an open environment and space for the future.
A long-cherished dream on the part of the International Mozarteum Foundation has finally come true: the new foyer building has been completed and the first stage in the renovation work on the Great Hall is finished.
This new building marks a milestone in the more than 140-year history of the Mozarteum Foundation. Over the past two years the old foyer in what used to be the Mozarteum’s inner courtyard has been replaced by a generously proportioned light-filled space that linked the two wings of the building in a way that is both functional and highly attractive from an architectural standpoint.
An extra 370 square metres (nearly 4,000 square feet) have been created on two levels, opening up numerous new possibilities for their use in addition to meeting the catering needs during intervals at Mozarteum events.
The new foyer building nestles between the two existing parts of the Mozarteum, both of which are listed buildings, creating an impression of lightness, brightness and elegance. The glass and steel construction is gossamer-light and provides space for visitors to meet in two new foyers. On the first floor the Grand Foyer covers an area of 170 square metres (1,830 square feet), providing enough space to ensure that the intervals at concerts and other events may be agreeably spent, while also allowing access from the concert wing to the Bastion Gardens via a wide glass staircase.
The additional space means that Mozarteum’s visitors can spend their time before, after and during the concerts in a comfortable environment, while maintaining a suitable distance from their fellow concertgoers. On the ground floor the City Foyer covers an area of 200 square metres (2,150 square feet) and grants access to the Baroque bastion wall.
The International Mozarteum Foundation
For more than two and a half centuries Wolfgang Amadé Mozart has fascinated people all over the world through his music and his personality. The International Mozarteum Foundation is the world’s leading institution aimed at preserving and disseminating this priceless cultural legacy. It also seeks to make the world aware of Mozart’s manifold facets by opening up access to his music and to introduce his life and personality to everyone, regardless of their age.
A non-profit-making organization, the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation engages with the figure of Mozart as both man and artist and to this end has established initiatives in three key areas, organizing concerts, running Mozart museums and pursuing research, in that way building a bridge between the preservation of a tradition and the promotion of contemporary culture. Its aim is to open up different perspectives and encourage new ideas in our engagement with the composer. The Mozart Week Festival was established in 1956 with the goal of celebrating Mozart’s birthday each January.
The Society of the Salzburg Mozarteum Foundation was established as the International Mozarteum Foundation in 1880 by the townspeople of Salzburg, although its origins date back to the Cathedral Music Society and Mozarteum that was set up in 1841. Mozart’s widow Constanze and their two sons Carl Thomas and Franz Xaver Wolfgang donated much of their estate to the Society. As a result, the Mozarteum Foundation owns the world’s largest collection of original letters, portraits and instruments once in the possession of the Mozart family.