Mönchsberg

This guide to the Monchsberg in Salzburg explains that the cliff beneath you is Nagelfluh, cemented gravel rather than solid stone, and follows what happened after citizens spent decades quietly hollowing wine cellars into its soft base. One July night in 1669 a slab gave way, and the guide traces the collapse through the buildings it buried and the second slide that struck the rescuers who came looking for survivors. It also follows the Bergputzer, the rope crew who have climbed these cliffs every year since 1778 prying loose stones free before they can fall on their own.