| On the "Bürgerspitalsplatz" (meaning "citizen′s hospital square") at the end (or beginning, depending on where you start) of the busy and posh Getreidegasse, you find the Curch of St. Blasius, formally called "Bürgerspitalskirche". Around the corner you will find the "Haus der Natur" natural history museum, the Bürgerspital itself and the Markuskirche.
A very long time ago, in the 12th century, there was a little chapel for St. Blasius on this site, which were meadows owned by the rich Abbey of Admont. 150 years later, Prince Archbishop Friedrich III. purchased the meadows to build a hospital for the citizens of Salzburg.
This hospital was supplemented with a chapel - eventually Salzburg was a non-secular, Catholic state by then. This chapel was plain and hardly structured or decorated at all. A balcony in old-Romanesque style was built for the patients of the hospital. |