Back to the roots
Geography and history
The city is situated in a basin, which is surrounded by the Kalkvoralpen and crossed by the river Salzach. This landscape is uniquely beautiful and could only become to what it is today because of ice age glaciers. When the frost of the ice age was slowly retreating and the lakes resulting from the frost began to dry up, the landscape that was left was mainly dominated by swamps. A grouping of inselbergs (or monadnocks) on the shore of the Salzach offered enough space for a Neolithic settlement. The first milestone in the development of the city Salzburg was set!
Later Celtic tribes used the city hills, which belonged to the Noric kingdom, to operate an administrative centre. Salt deposits of the Dürrnberg (about 30 minutes away from the city Salzburg by car) served as an important resource for trade.