During construction work

Salzburg Museum comes across a slippery find

Archaeological excavations are currently underway(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

The Salzburg Museum is currently undergoing a major refurbishment: The Neue Residenz - the museum's current home - is being extensively renovated. In addition, the existing museum space is being extended. The Vienna Belvedere will move in there with a branch. Cost: 48 million euros net.

Priceless, on the other hand, is the museum's delight at the chance historical finds made during the excavation of the building pit. "Among other things, we came across building remains from the Roman imperial period. We also want to delve into the 1st century and investigate the timber construction phase in more detail," explains Ulrike Hampel, Head of Archaeology at the Salzburg Museum.

Salzburg Museum director Martin Hochleitner shows where the excavations took place.(Bild: Tröster Andreas)

Slippery wall painting discovered
The archaeologists were particularly delighted by a slippery wall painting that came to light during the excavations. It shows: A man with a slightly too tight loincloth, revealing his sizeable member. "Man has always been knitted the same way," Hampel smiles.

The historical traces of time that the museum comes across during the excavations in the course of the construction work are to be incorporated architecturally into the new museum experience. The second inner courtyard will be designed in the style of the former gardens of Archbishop Wolf Dietrich. He had his garden there from 1600. In future, the greenery will return to the inner courtyard, which was previously used as a parking lot. A fountain offers cooling.

An atrium is planned for the inner courtyard.(Bild: Filippo Bolognese Images)

However, it will be a while before this vision of the future becomes reality. The aim is to welcome visitors to the new environment at the beginning of 2027.

During the construction phase, it will not be possible to hold exhibitions. In the meantime, the Salzburg Museum is showing its collection - which will probably soon include the loincloth man - at other locations in the city and province.