Rossacher Collection

Kurt Rossacher studied art history in Frankfurt and Vienna and worked as an art expert and editor of the journal “Alte und moderne Kunst” (Old and Modern Art) in Munich, Rome, and Salzburg. At the same time, as an art dealer, he built up a collection of preparatory drawings, paintings, and sculptural models for works of art from the 17th and 18th centuries. He regarded these initial sketches as the “prima idea”—the first spark of inspiration and the unmistakable signature of their creator. Together with his wife Else, he assembled an important collection of Baroque designs between the 1950s and the 1970s.

In the early 1970s, Kurt Rossacher made the significant decision to donate and partially place on permanent loan his extensive collection to the Province of Salzburg. This generous gesture was subject to one essential condition: the collection was to be made permanently accessible to the public, allowing both art enthusiasts and the wider public to benefit from this cultural treasure. As a direct result of this agreement, the Salzburg Baroque Museum was founded in 1970 as the institutional home of the collection. Following a period of preparation and renovation, the museum’s exhibition galleries finally opened to the public in 1973. Rossacher recommended the former Orangery building in Salzburg’s Mirabell Gardens as the museum’s location—a historically significant and highly evocative setting that provided a fitting and atmospheric backdrop for the works on display.

In 2012, the Salzburg Baroque Museum closed, and the Rossacher Collection was transferred to the Salzburg Museum. Regina Kaltenbrunner oversaw the collection throughout this transition. A particular highlight of her curatorial career was her collaboration with the Louvre, where works from the collection were presented in Paris. Regina Kaltenbrunner also curated three exhibitions in the North Oratory of the Salzburg DomQuartier: “Prima Idea – Baroque Visions from the Rossacher Collection” (2014–15), “Troger, Rottmayr, Kremser Schmidt – Picture Stories for Salzburg” (2017), and “From Bernini to Rubens – Roman Artworks from the Rossacher Collection” (2019–2020).