A horde of golden mini-Mozarts marks 270 years since the composer's birth in Salzburg

People pass 400 gold colored plastic Mozart sculptures by German artist Ottmar Hoerl from Nuremberg before the 270th birthday of composer Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart in Salzburg, Austria, Wednesday, July 15, 2026.

SALZBURG, Austria — Visitors to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s hometown can see the composer — and his dog — in miniature as Salzburg celebrates the 270th anniversary of his birth. But they shouldn’t wait too long.

The Mozarteum Foundation on Wednesday unveiled 300 gold-colored statuettes of Mozart, which are barely 50 centimetres (less than 20 inches) tall. They were designed by German concept artist Ottmar Hörl.

Mozart was born on Jan. 27, 1756, in the Austrian city, where the Mozarteum Foundation offers concerts, maintains Mozart museums and supports research on him.

“I didn’t want to do a monument of Mozart. There are already enough of these. But I wanted to show his human side, that he was a normal human being despite his genius,” Hörl told The Associated Press.

To give the statues a human touch, Hörl depicted the composer with his favorite dog, Pimperl. Mozart and his family were known to take long walks with their dogs in the Mirabell Garden, next to where they lived.

The mini-Mozarts populate not only the garden, but also Mozart’s former living quarters as well as several pavilions. In all, 400 statues were made, but only 300 are on display at present. The rest are being kept in reserve in case of theft.

“Two already got stolen within the last few hours,” Linus Klumpner of the Mozarteum Foundation said. But the statues are meant to attract a broader range of visitors and get them hooked on Mozart’s Music.

“You come here, maybe you see the small golden heads shimmering in the sun on the horizon. And people become curious,” Klumpner said. “And then a process begins which is very much in our interest. That is to bring new people in contact with Mozart.”

For Hörl, the theft of his artworks in nothing new. At an installation in Bayreuth, Germany, a complete array of statues of Richard Wagner was stolen within 10 days.

“That’s just the nature of public space. That means when you work as an artist in a public space you mustn’t complain about what is happening there,” Hörl said. ”It ranges from destruction to theft. That’s just how it is.”

The Mozart statues are scheduled to remain on display until Aug. 30. People who would like to own one but would prefer not to steal it can purchase one for 100 euros (US$114) – while supplies last.

Hörl is known for his sculptures made from polymer. In 2010 he displayed 10,000 plastic owls in Athens. A “Homage to Dürer” showcased oversized plastic copies of Albrecht Dürer’s hare at the Daegu art museum in South Korea.

In 2009, German prosecutors decided against investigating Hörl over a series of golden garden gnomes doing the Hitler salute, under a law that forbids using insignia forbidden by the German constitution. Hörl himself intended the gnomes as satire against the Nazis’ ideology.

Philipp Jenne, The Associated Press