The square is dominated by the statue of Mozart by Ludwig Schwanthaler, ceremoniously unveiled on September 5, 1842 in the presence of Mozart's sons. Mozart's widow, Constanze von Nissen, did not live to see the unveiling. She died on March 6th of the same year in the house at Mozartplatz 8. A plaque was placed on the house in her memory.
"Michl march, Mozart is here!" This was the local vernacular when the site for the erection of the Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart monument was being discussed. The two squares coming into consideration were the Hannibalplatz in front of Mozart's Residence (today's Makart Square) and the Michaelsplatz (today's Mozart Square), whose fountain with the Baroque statue of St. Michael had to give way to the Mozart monument."
The Bavarian king, Ludwig I, was an important promotor. He personally contributed a significant amount of money and also donated the marble pedestal, now owned by the Salzburg Museum. Originally, the monument was to have been unveiled in 1841 but a valuable Roman mosaic tile floor was discovered during excavation work:
"hic habitat [felicitas], nihil intret mali"
(Hier wohnt [das Glück], nichts Schlimmes trete ein),
which postponed the unveiling until September 1842.
Today the so-called "Antretter House", located on Mozart Square 4, accommodates the Salzburg University's Institute of Music. The county chancellor and royal war councillor Johann Ernst von Antretter and his wife Maria Anna Elisabeth bought the house in September 1765. The Antretter family was closely acquainted with the Mozart family, e.g. Cajetan, one of the Antretter's sons and the Mozarts were members of the Bölzl infantry and one of the Antretter daughters was a member of Nannerl Mozart's "scholars". The Antretter family also commissioned Mozart to compose the "Antretter Serenade" K. 185. Numerous letters and diary entries document the friendship between the two families. The attractive building, built between the 16th and 18th centuries, is well worth seeing.
The "Schaffner House" on the adjacent Waagplatz is the birthplace of the poet Georg Trakl.
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