The Kollegienkirche in Salzburg

This is the interior of the Kollegienkirche, or college church, in Salzburg. It is huge inside, so big and so empty and white that its scale confuses the eyes.

The frothy white splodges around the window above the altar are clouds, lots of clouds. Have you ever seen sculpted clouds in a church? It was way over the top, but pretty.

The church is a UNESCO World Heritage site, and there is a placard to that effect outside.

As its name indicates, the Kollegienkirche (college church) is the church of the University of Salzburg, and it is located in a Square behind the house in which Mozart was born.

Mozart was born in a house at Getreidegasse 9, and my memory may be playing tricks with me, but I recall looking out of the windows in Mozart’s house and I think I saw the dome of the church.

I read that the church commissioned a piece by Mozart that had its premiere in the church itself in 1769. Assuming that is true, then I can imagine Mozart walking around from his house and humming the tune to himself as he made his way to the premiere.

The Mozart family lived on the third floor of 9 Getreidegasse in Salzburg from 1747 to 1773. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was born there on 27 January 1756. So that would make Mozart thirteen years old when he composed the piece for the church.