Stiftskirche St. Peter (Salzburg)

The Stiftskirche Sankt Peter stands on the rock of the Mönchsberg in Salzburg’s St Peter district, forming the abbey church of the Benedictine Archabbey of St Peter. It is dedicated to Saint Peter and rises above the oldest monastery in the German-speaking world. The present building was constructed between 1130 and 1143 by Abbot Balderich on earlier foundations that may include a Carolingian tower base from the 9th century. The church is worth visiting for its layered history and art. Its core is a Romanesque basilica remodelled in the 17th and 18th centuries with Baroque vaults, a crossing dome and side chapels. The tower received its striking onion spire in 1756 under Abbot Beda Seeauer, and the main portal’s tympanum from about 1160 shows Christ between Saints Peter and Paul. The interior preserves Romanesque pillars beneath later stucco and holds works by Lorenz Härmbler, Franz Xaver König and Johann Weiß. Inside, the nave is closed by a wrought-iron Rococo screen made in 1768 by Philipp Hinterseer. Behind delicate green-and-white Rococo stucco, the original Romanesque structure remains visible. The high altar of 1777–80 features marble columns and paintings by Martin Johann Schmidt, while the ceiling and walls display large Baroque frescoes of biblical scenes and saints’ lives. Side altars line the north and south of the nave, and fragments of 12th- and 13th-century wall paintings appear on the south wall.