Siegmundstor

The Sigmundstor, also known as the Neutor, is a road tunnel in Salzburg that also serves as one of the ancient Altstadt’s city gates. Through the Mönchsberg mountain, it links the Altstadt to the Riedenburg area. It is Austria’s oldest road tunnel, having been built in the 18th century.

The tunnel measures 131 meters (430 feet) length, 5.5 meters (18 feet) broad, and 8-10 meters (26-33 feet) high.It is excavated at an 8% inclination to aid drainage and allow natural light to brighten it. Despite its limited lanes, the Sigmundstor is an essential and popular transportation route today, carrying both vehicle traffic and Salzburg trolleybus routes 1, 8, and 10. A newer parallel tunnel for walkers and bikes is located to the north of the main tunnel.

Initially, the tunnel was known as Neutor, and the plaza near the tunnel’s eastern end was known as Sigmundsplatz. Later, in honor of Herbert von Karajan, the long-serving creative director of the Salzburg Festival, the square was renamed Herbert-von-Karajan-Platz. Although the Sigmund name was transferred to the tunnel, most people still refer to the Sigmundstor as the Neutor.

The eastern entrance

The lines Te saxa loquuntur (‘The stones will speak of you’) were engraved above a bas-relief of the Prince-Archbishop at the tunnel entrance on the old town side. The construction of the baroque horsepond, complete with paintings, originally stretched in front of the existing eastern entrance, giving the square a symmetrical shape. Within the building, an ornamental gate led under cover to the current gate at the tunnel’s head. Around 1860, this building was dismantled.

The western entrance

On the Riedenburg side, the western entry includes a statue of the martyr Sigismund of Burgundy (524) atop war trophies and the Schrattenbach crest.’D(eo) O(ptimo) M(aximo) – D(ivino) Sigismundo M(artyri) publico bono, commodo decori,’ the inscription says. SIgIsMVnDI ArChIepIsCopI P(rincepis) S(acri) R(omani imperii) comitib(us) de Schrattenbach aeternae memoriae W(olfgangus) Hagenauer archit(ectus). The total of the capital letters in the inscription is 1767. The inscription Joan(nnae) Hagenauer inv(enit) exc(ussit) et eff(ecit) (‘Johann (Baptist) Hagenauer found, hewed it out, and finished (this statue)’ appears on the plinth of the statue.

The initial concept called for the building of a military outer structure on the Riedenburg side, disguised as a ‘ruins’ park, which was popular at the time. However, only a pair of obelisks to the right and left of the entrance were ever constructed.

Salzburg, Austria