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Salzburg is a country with an intensive cultural tradition that extends far into the past. Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, the city’s most famous son, represents the high point of the classical musical tradition. This tradition is still fostered nowadays - on the one hand in the Mozarteum University and on the other in the equally world-renowned Salzburg Festival, which, since it was founded in 1920, annually attracts thousands of art and culture lovers from all over the world to Salzburg. Music especially but also major theatrical events form the basis for the world reputation of the Festival. One of the most important annual attractions is of course the performance on the Cathedral Square of the mystery play “Jedermann” (Everyman) against the overwhelming background of Salzburg Cathedral. This and many other churches in the heart of the Mozart City have given Salzburg the name “Rome of the North”. Many music lovers also come to Salzburg to attend the Easter Festival, which was founded by Herbert von Karajan. Other cultural highlights are the Mozart Week in January and the Whitsuntide Baroque Festival. The traditional Salzburg Advent Singing held in the Grosses Festspielhaus during Advent also attracts thousands of visitors. The City of Salzburg quite rightly has been declared a World Heritage Site: More than 600 cultural initiatives stage some 4.000 events every year, ranging from orchestral to rock concerts, from opera to musical, plays and recitals, folk dancing and street festivals.
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The many art galleries and museums Salzburg has to offer should also not be forgotten. They include the Haus der Natur (Nature Museum), the Museum Carolino Augusteum, the internationally renowned Rupertinum, the Residenz Gallery and the unique open-air museum near Großgmain. At present the museums in Salzburg are undergoing a major reorganisation. Plans include the creation of an attractive regional museum in the new Residenz on Mozart Square that is intended to express the significant and very independent status of the land. The Museum of Modern Art on Mönchsberg will open in 2004 showing the collection of the Rupertinum and more. The preservation of Salzburg’s rich cultural heritage has a particular priority in regional policy. Early in 1998 former Governor Dr. Franz Schausberger initiated the project known as Salzburg Kulturgüter (cultural heritage) with the aim of creating awareness, of coordinating and linking current activities concerning the preservation of monuments, as well as making the cultural heritage accessible to people and informing them about it.
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