The Innviertler Volkskundehaus museum in Ried im Innkreis is home to a jewel: the Silent Night cot witnessed the premiere of the world's most famous Christmas carol - and is not only worth a visit at Christmas time.

It was a simple performance, performed in front of ordinary people, with which the organist Franz Xaver Gruber and assistant priest Joseph Mohr enriched the Christmas mass on 24 December 1818 in St. Nicholas Church in Oberndorf an der Salzach. Gruber had set Mohr's poem "Silent Night" to music just a few hours earlier. Together they premiered the song "Silent Night!, Holy Night!": Joseph Mohr sang the tenor part and played the guitar, Franz Xaver Gruber took over the bass part, the final line of each verse was repeated by the choir of the Metten visitors. Today, the song is sung in over 350 languages and dialects around the world.

The journey of the Silent Night cot to Ried:
When the dilapidated St Nicholas Church in Oberndorf was demolished in 1906 due to the constant risk of flooding, the Silent Night cot was donated to the Oberndorf School Sisters, who kept it in the attic for a long time. When they were in need of money, they sold the cot to a junk dealer in Salzburg. There, the clockmaker Georg Muckenhammer from Ostermiething acquired the cot and passed it on to his school friend, priest Johann Veichtlbauer from St. Pantaleon (Braunau am Inn district). The priest was an enthusiastic collector of folk art and bequeathed his treasures to the town of Ried im Innkreis in 1933, founding the Innviertler Volkskundehaus museum.

Restored for the Silent Night anniversary
In the anniversary year of 2018, the nativity scene, which was created around 1800, was carefully restored and reinstalled. The 100 or so figures with their wax heads and splendid robes can now be found in an atmospheric landscape with a view of the Alpine panorama from Oberndorf.

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