Mozartplatz
Baroque square where diggers laying a monument's foundation unearthed an ancient mosaic warning.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Mozartplatz in Salzburg follows a crew of workmen who broke ground here in 1841 to lay the foundation for a new Mozart statue timed for the fiftieth anniversary of his death, and what they struck instead while clearing out an old baroque fountain. Beneath the rubble came a still-legible Roman-era mosaic floor carrying a Latin warning about happiness and evil, a find that stopped construction cold and sent masons and diggers back to carefully record and lift a floor more than a thousand years old. Look down near the statue's foot, where a copy of that mosaic is set into the paving.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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