Description of the attraction
The Siegmundstor Tunnel, connecting the center of Salzburg's Old Town with the Riedenburg district, was built between 1764 and 1767. The tunnel was cut in the Mönchsberg mountain and is one of the oldest road tunnels in Europe.
At the exit from the tunnel, there is a stone pool with a railing, in the center of which there are statues of a man and a horse tamed by him on a pedestal. Behind the monument there is a wall painted with frescoes, the main motif of which is the images of horses. This building, built in 1695, served as a bathhouse for the court horses.
Archbishop Sigmund Schratenbach ordered the engineer Elias von Geyer to build the tunnel in 1764, and commissioned the Hagenauer brothers to do its decoration. The total cost of construction was 19,820 guilders, which turned out to be one third cheaper than the originally planned amount. The tunnel is 135 meters long.
The slope of the tunnel is approximately 10 meters (7.4%). Such a low slope, according to historical publications, was conceived due to the incident sunlight, which made the tunnel a little brighter. The entrance to the tunnel from the side of the old part of the city is decorated with an emblem with a portrait of Archbishop Schratenbach. Above the coat of arms you can see the Latin inscription: "Te saxa loquuntur", which means "The stones speak of you." On the other side, the tunnel is decorated with the image of St. Sigismund in antique armor. On the sides of the tunnel there are obelisks.
Today the narrow Zygmundstor tunnel is constantly congested with two-way traffic connecting the western part of the city with the center. In 2009 and 2010, due to partial destruction, the tunnel was closed for repairs. The restoration work was financed by the administration of the city of Salzburg; almost 760,000 euros were spent on the reconstruction.
The tunnel was originally called the New Gate (Neutor). Later, it was renamed Zygmundstor, however, most of the locals still call the tunnel in the old way.
