History: During the Thirty Years' War, the former access road to the Mönchsberg to Edmundsburg and the Mönchsberg district was closed and the rock there was converted into a gun bastion with steep and smooth walls. The residents of the Mönchsberg district repeatedly tried in vain to get Prince Archbishop Paris Lodron to give them at least a narrow staircase back to their houses.
At the beginning of 1654, the Mönchsberg residents again asked the new Prince Archbishop Guidobald Count of Thun and Hohenstein to provide them with a new staircase to their homes. After the end of the Thirty Years' War, the staircase was approved on May 9th of the same year. The staircase, which was built very quickly, began at the stables, led up past the summer riding school and then as a shingled staircase on the outside of the Peterswacht Bastion up to the Kapellhausstöckl and the Mönchsberg Quarter, or later Edmundsburg. In the upper section, this staircase with its 287 steps led through a small archway through the defensive wall and behind it further up to the Peterswacht Bastion in a narrow stairwell. The Napoleonic occupying forces ordered the demolition of the wooden parts. It was rebuilt after the end of the occupation, in 1813 it was walled up again, opened again a little later, then it was closed again for a short time because it was rotten and was repaired as a staircase in 1885.
In 1856 the public staircase was no longer closed at night. The gatekeeper's house was also removed. In 1868, the roof of the staircase was also removed.
With the expansion of the Small Festival Hall in 1937, the lower part of this staircase was moved to the south in order to provide sufficient space for the stage tower of the new building.
The Clemens-Holzmeister-Stiege leads past the facade of the stage house of the Salzburg Festival. It is partly made of coarse concrete, which resembles a conglomerate and is decorated with figures made of the same material. From Easter 2010, the staircase, which was in danger of collapsing, had to be renovated at a cost of around 150,000 euros. The staircase was re-anchored in the stage tower of the Small Festival House, partially rebuilt in the open area and reopened on June 1, 2010.
Quote: Salzburg WIKI - Salzburger Nachrichten.