Graf-Lodronscher Primogenitur Palace

The Paris Lodron Primogeniture Palace, also known as the Old Borromäum, in Salzburg dates back to the primogeniture established by Paris Lodron in 1643.

In 1643, Prince-Archbishop Paris Lodron handed over to his brother Christoph von Lodron a part of the land gained by draining the Itzling and Schallmoss bogs within the city walls of Salzburg as part of the primogeniture fideicommissum. The Palatium Lodronicum also included what was later called the Old Borromäum, or the current building of the Mozarteum University in Dreifaltigkeitsgasse. The Primogeniture Palace itself was built by cathedral master builder Santino Solari.

During the city fire of 1818, this house also burned down, but it was largely restored. In 1846, Cardinal Schwarzenberg acquired the building, and in place of the previously existing low courtyard wing, the Borromäus Church was built here between 1846 and 1848. In 1849, the Collegium Borromäum, a Catholic private school named after the newly built church, was founded in the main house. It initially served primarily for the training of priestly candidates and later became a general gymnasium. This moved to Parsch in 1912, where it is still located today.

After that, the house temporarily served as a residence. From 1913, the newly founded Salzburg Marionette Theatre was also housed in the old gymnasium of the Old Borromäum. The Aicherpassage on the ground floor of the building still commemorates this today. In 1894, the city gate arch over Dreifaltigkeitsgasse (Mitterbachbogen) located at this house was demolished as a traffic obstruction. After the Second World War, the offices of the bombed-out Museum Carolino Augusteum were located here.

The Primogeniture Palace was largely demolished in 1972 with the consent of the committees of the University of Salzburg and against the bitter resistance of the Salzburg City Association, to create space for the Mozarteum University of Music. Only the outer walls of the building remained; the space between these house walls and the Mirabell Garden was filled with an almost windowless bunker-like structure (without natural light or ventilation from outside). This new building was closed as early as 1998 due to suspected carcinogenic pollutant contamination and replaced by a more pleasing new building (2004-2006, architect Robert Rechnenauer, Munich). Two portals still bear the coat of arms of Paris Lodron. In the Mozart Hall of the university, there is now a remarkable fresco by Anton Faistauer depicting Diana's return from the hunt, which originates from the Lederer-Schlössl in Vienna.