Volksgarten Park, Salzburg-Parsch

The Volksgarten is a large park in a central area of Salzburg, situated right by the River Salzach and in the district of Parsch. It is supplemented by popular sport facilities, such as a public swimming pool, an ice rink (home of the local ice hockey team). The area where the park can be found was originally called "Brodhäuslau".

It was part of an agricultural property that could be found south of today′s Volksgarten. It was made a park between 1891 and 1898 and was opened upon the occasion of Franz Joseph I′s 50th jubilee. The swimming pool and bath had already been opened in 1892; both park and bath were named after Franz Joseph I. Soon the park became a highly popular event venue for occasions such as the "Salzburg Dult", the biggest fun fair of the city; today, the Dult takes place in the exhibition centre in the North of Salzburg.

There is an artificial pond in the Volksgarten on which you could rent small dinghies and boats. After the end of World War I, Salzburg became rather critical of the monarchy and the Franz-Josefs-Park was re-named into Volksgarten ("People′s Garden"). Note our article on the Elisabeth-Vorstadt, which suffered the same fate.

Today, the Volksgarten is an important recreational area with the socialist sport clubs that moved there in the 1920ies still being there (but not expecting a revolution any longer). More importantly, however, the Volksgarten is associated with watching sport events, mainly ice hockey. The ice rink and the swimming pool are among the most important sport venues in Salzburg; over-all, the Volksgarten has gone from being primarily a park to being primarily a sports area.

Further Reading

http://www.stadt-salzburg.at/
City of Salzburg on the Volksgarten


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