Nonnberg Abbey

Stift Nonnberg was founded around 714 by Rupert of Salzburg with his kinswoman Erentrudis as first abbess, and Benedictine nuns have lived there without a break since, which makes it the oldest continuously occupied convent north of the Alps. It sits on the shoulder of the Festungsberg below the fortress, reached by steps from the old town. The church is late Gothic, rebuilt after a fire in 1423, with a Romanesque west portal, twelfth-century frescoes in a side chapel and the tomb of Erentrudis in the crypt. Maria Kutschera entered as a novice here before leaving to work for the von Trapp family, and the abbey appears in The Sound of Music, though the film was shot elsewhere for the interiors. The nuns' choir is enclosed and not open.

What you actually see

• A convent occupied since 714 - the oldest north of the Alps, without a break.
• Late Gothic church - rebuilt after 1423, with a Romanesque west portal.
• Twelfth-century frescoes - in the side chapel, among the oldest in Salzburg.
• The Maria von Trapp connection - the abbey where she was a novice.

When to go

All year; morning for the sung office. An hour.

Honest expectations

The convent is enclosed - only the public part of the church is accessible, and it is small. The steps up are steep. Film visitors expecting the movie's cloister will not find it; interiors were sets.

Nearby

The Hohensalzburg fortress is above; the old town is at the foot of the steps.