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Jewellery by Artists: From Picasso to Koons, an exhibition organised by the culture and art portal Arterritory.com

Destinations · Europe · austria · Salzburg · Insider's view ·

Small is beautiful

One of the best design dealers in the German-speaking countries – that’s what the highly respectable Architectural Digest called Madero Collectors Room, a design gallery that opened three years ago in Salzburg. While the gallery specialises in 20th-century vintage design furniture, it also initiates a variety of design and art projects. The owners are well-known personalities on the Salzburg social scene: Mexican-born art collector and dealer Alejandro Madero, whose great-granduncle Francisco I. Madero served as Mexico’s first democratically elected president, and Bettina Fischer, who is closely linked with cinema and theatre.

Fischer was born in Salzburg but left the city at age 19, “because I didn't want Mozart anymore.” She spent 12 years in Los Angeles studying filmmaking and then headed to Paris, where she worked as a television producer. When she realised that she was ready for a change in her life, she moved back to her native city.

“I'm very attached to Salzburg. Everything that I ran away from I appreciate today,” she says, sharing her thoughts about Salzburg with Anothertravelguide.com.

Salzburg is exceptional because it’s a small town. I think we have no more than 150,000 inhabitants, but our music festival (the summer festival here is one of the best in the world) has always brought people from many countries. The locals joke that Salzburg is a village that turns into a metropolis a couple of times a year. Of course, that’s coloured the thinking, and it’s coloured the general atmosphere of the city. Salzburg is also a very wealthy town and very glamorous. People in other Austrian cities, especially Vienna, have a negative view of the cultural life in Salzburg, because from their point of view, it’s too bourgeois. People get all dressed up to go to a concert or opera, but, honestly, I think it’s fun. We don’t have many occasions to put on glamorous jewellery and dresses and be creative in doing so. I think it’s nice to have a festival that’s not so pedestrian.

Of course, you can go to a concert in jeans if you wish, but the best artists in the world come here during the Salzburg Festival, and there’s a festive atmosphere all around. I sometimes love to sit in a café when people go to the festival just to watch people and see how they’re decked out, because that’s saying something about who they are and who they want to be. And that’s very fun.

Music is in Salzburg’s blood. We often go to the Morzarteum, to concerts at the university, and they’re fabulous. There you can hear music that doesn’t necessarily make it to the big stage. You can experiment and you can discover new things. We have the Mozart Festival in January, and the Easter Festival founded by Herbert von Karajan. We have festivals all year round.

I’m very grateful to live here, because Salzburg has a certain quality and you can really enjoy the “small is beautiful” side of the city in everyday life. I lived in big cities for 25 years and I now feel that I’m done with that. I don’t need all the business of the big city anymore, there’s enough here. At the same time, though, you’re in the middle of Europe. One-and-a-half hours by car and you’re in Munich, two-and-a-half hours by train to Vienna, four hours to Venice.

Living in Salzburg, I have more time for the things that are important to me, because daily life isn’t so exhausting. It’s very easy to get things done here; you don’t waste a lot of time standing in line at the post office or finding a parking space to do your shopping. It’s more practical here, it’s easier, like in any smaller town.

One of my favourite places is Lake Fuschl. There’s a castle on the lakeshore that’s now a hotel – Schloss Fuschl. And there’s a path around the lake that’s absolutely magical to walk around (it takes approximately 2.5 hours). There are hardly any buildings around, and you can really enjoy the beautiful nature.

Gaisberg mountain is also a very special place. It’s around 1500 metres high, which is why it’s called the “balcony of Salzburg”, and there are some fabulous inns up there. One of my favourites is Erentrudis (erentrudisalm.at). It’s an old country inn that is owned by the nuns of the Nonnberg Abbey. There you’ll find fabulous Austrian home cooking. It’s very inexpensive and it has a beautiful atmosphere. I go there almost every weekend. It’s a very nice walk – approximately two hours up and one hour down. But, of course, you can also drive there.

The presence of the Church is very powerful in Salzburg. We have 41 churches, and they make a very special atmosphere in the city, even if you’re not religious. My favourite churches are Stiftskirche St. Peter and the Franziskanerkirche. To hear Mozart’s Requiem in St. Peter’s is one of the most beautiful experiences.I sometimes visit when nobody’s there just to feel the atmosphere. Franzikanerkirche hosts concerts practically every Sunday and most of them are for free. It’s very special to experience good, beautiful music in that kind of environment, especially at Christmas time. 

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