Bruderhof Salzburg - Life and Death, Just a Hair's Breadth Apart

Right in the heart of the Old Town on the right bank, between Linzer Gasse and Paris-Lodron-Straße, lies the Bruderhof—a complex of buildings with a few centuries under its belt. You walk through the Cornelius-Reitsamer-Passage, step under an archway, and you’re already inside: two courtyards, a bit of shade, lively dining, and plenty of history.

Come on in!
Right in the first courtyard and to the right: the former St. Sebastian Hospital, now a guesthouse and student dormitory. Behind it, an entrance to the Sebastian Cemetery—and suddenly it becomes quiet. Very quiet. Because this is where not only a cemetery begins, but a journey through time: Originally, the whole area lay far outside the city walls—back then presumably a plague cemetery, which makes sense, since the patron saint against the plague is none other than St. Sebastian. In 1505, the cemetery was established under Prince-Archbishop Leonhard von Keutschach—at that time still quite “medieval.”

Then came Wolf Dietrich von Raitenau and said, “This must be Renaissance.” And he had the cemetery redesigned in the style of an Italian camposanto. And because he could, he had a burial chapel built right in the middle of it—the Wolf Dietrich Burial Chapel—dedicated to Saint Gabriel. And he was laid to rest there in 1617 in a sarcophagus.