Moenchsberg Museum of Modern Art Tours and Activities

In a city renowned for flamboyant, sometimes frothy baroque architecture, the cool clear lines of the Museum of Modern Art Mönchsberg (MdM Mönchsberg) come as a refreshing change. This new museum lies like a thin slab of marble, white against the wooded cliffs of the Mönchsberg, which rises darkly against the skyline west of the Old Town. But with its clever use of wide glass panes, and careful integration with an old water tower, the Museum of Modern Art looks far from out of place. In fact it almost seems like a modern echo of the massive castle of Festung Hohensalzburg, which stares down at it from lofty heights to the south.

Only built in 2004, the Museum houses a comprehensive collection of Austrian art from the 20th and 21st centuries, as well as one of the largest collections of recent Austrian photography. The museum was started in 1983, thanks to Friedrich Welz, a gallery owner who donated his private collection to Salzburg on the condition they build a museum to house it. At first the works were housed in the nearby Rupertinum. But as the collection swelled, the need for a larger space to exhibit those works became apparent—and the MdM Mönchsberg is the result.

You can reach the Museum from the Old Town with just a short walk up the Mönchsberg hill. Inside you'll find paintings and graphics, photos and sculptures, covering works from the 19th century painters like Cézanne, Gauguin and Munch, to contemporary Austrian artists like Bertram Hasenauer, Jakob Mattner and Gil Shachar. Their names may be unfamiliar, but the bold presentation of challenging ideas—and the superb views back out over Salzburg—make for an unforgettable artistic experience.