Getreidegasse

What makes it special

The guild signs are wrought iron, often elaborate, and hang out from the facades over the old shopfronts to show what is sold inside. They began as a way to show a trade to customers who could not read.

The houses stand tall and narrow along a street that runs parallel to the Salzach. Many are through-houses, with the front on the Getreidegasse, the back on a different street, and an arcaded passage between the two.

The passages now hold shops and galleries, and several of them lead through to Universitätsplatz.

Universitätsplatz holds the Grünmarkt, with stalls of fruit, vegetables, bread, pastries, meat and spirits. The Kollegienkirche also stands on the square, a church by Johann Bernhard Fischer von Erlach that counts among the most important baroque churches in Austria. Look up at it from the market.

Visiting

Begin at the southeast end, where the street meets Kranzlmarkt and Rathausplatz, and walk northwest.

Turn into the Schatz-Haus passage at No. 3, the best known of the through-houses, and follow it to Universitätsplatz. Cross the square to the Kollegienkirche, then come back to the Getreidegasse through the Schatz-Haus.

Further along, No. 9 is Mozart's Birthplace, now a museum. The street ends at Karajanplatz, where it meets the Gstättengasse. Follow the Gstättengasse to Anton-Neumayr-Platz, where the lower station of the Mönchsberg lift stands.

Tips

The Grünmarkt trades Monday to Friday from 7am to 7pm and on Saturday from 6am to 3pm, except on public holidays, so a Sunday walk finds the square without its stalls.

On Saturdays the market spreads beyond the square along Wiener-Philharmoniker-Gasse as far as Max-Reinhardt-Platz. On the four Saturdays in Advent it stays open until 7pm.