Construction began under Archbishop Conrad I, when he relocated his residence from St Peter's Abbey to its present site close to Salzburg Cathedral.
The bishop's palace took on its present Renaissance appearance under the auspices of Archbishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau between 1587 and 1612,[2] probably according to plans designed by the Italian architect Vincenzo Scamozzi.
[2] Upon Salzburg's secularisation in 1803, the Residenz building served as a domicile of the Austrian imperial dynasty, as for Emperor Francis' widow Caroline Augusta of Bavaria, and of the Habsburg-Tuscany branch.
[3] In 1923, the Residenzgalerie was opened, intended to replace the art collection of the prince-archbishops, which had been lost during the Napoleonic wars in the early nineteenth century.
The so-called Hofbogengebäude that was built during the first constructional stage, starting in 1604, was originally a place of accommodation for the apartment of Archbishop Wolf Dietrich Raitenau.
It was put up in the medieval Frohnhof, the forecourt of the cathedral, where there was enough space to quickly build a new living unit for the prince archbishop without disturbing the procedures of the Residence or having to redeem civic houses.
Scamozzi demonstrably stayed in Salzburg during 1603/1604 to draw up a project for Wolf Dietrich of Raitenau, including a new cathedral as well as the renovation and extension of the episcopal residence.