The Silent Night Chapel () is located in the town of

Oberndorf bei Salzburg Oberndorf bei Salzburg ( Central Bavarian: ''Owerndorf ba Såizburg'') is a small city in the Austrian state of Salzburg, about 17 km (11 mi) north of the City of Salzburg. It is situated on the river Salzach in the Flachgau district. ...

in the Austrian province of

Salzburg Salzburg is the List of cities and towns in Austria, fourth-largest city in Austria. In 2020 its population was 156,852. The city lies on the Salzach, Salzach River, near the border with Germany and at the foot of the Austrian Alps, Alps moun ...

, and is a monument to the Christmas carol "

Silent Night "Silent Night" () is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO The United Nations Educati ...

", its lyricist

Joseph Mohr Josephus Franciscus Mohr, sometimes spelled Josef (11 December 1792 – 4 December 1848) was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest and writer, who wrote the words to the Christmas carol "Silent Night." Early life and education Mohr was born in S ...

, and its composer

Franz Xaver Gruber Franz Xaver Gruber (25 November 1787 – 7 June 1863) was an Austrian primary school teacher, church organist and composer in the village of Arnsdorf, who is best known for composing the music to "Stille Nacht" ("Silent Night"). Life Gruber w ...

. The chapel stands on the site of the former Nikolauskirche, where on 24 December 1818, the Christmas carol was performed for the first time.

History

The Catholic Nikolauskirche was damaged several times in the 1890s by flooding of the

Salzach The Salzach (Austrian: �saltsax ) is a river in Austria and Germany. It is in length and is a right tributary of the Inn (river), Inn, which eventually joins the Danube. Its drainage basin of comprises large parts of the Northern Limeston ...

river, especially by the 1899 flood that severely impacted the Altach district and destroyed a large part of the town. This led to the decision that the whole of Oberndorf, including the parish church of St. Nicholas, would need to be rebuilt about 800 meters (0.5 mile) upstream. Due to the high cost of repairs and the continued risk of flooding, the damaged St. Nicholas Church was not repaired. Instead, it was replaced in 1906 with a church in the new town center. In 1913 the old parish church was demolished and only a debris cone marked the location where the now-famous Christmas song was first performed. Stnikola

The 100th anniversary of the song in December 1918 fell at a difficult time immediately after

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. Still, many of the citizens of Oberndorf wanted to honor the message of peace created by Mohr and Gruber. Begun in 1924, construction of a memorial chapel proceeded slowly under the difficult political and economic conditions of the

First Austrian Republic The First Austrian Republic (), officially the Republic of Austria, was created after the signing of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye on 10 September 1919—the settlement after the end of World War I which ended the Habsburg rump state of ...

. The chapel was eventually completed on 15 August 1937, the Feast of the

Assumption Assumption, in Christianity, refers to the Assumption of Mary, a belief in the taking up of the Virgin Mary into heaven. Assumption may also refer to: Places * Assumption, Alberta, Canada * Assumption, Illinois, United States ** Assumption Town ...

. The Memorial Chapel ultimately became the visible symbol of the song "Silent Night". Every year, especially at

Christmas Christmas is an annual festival commemorating Nativity of Jesus, the birth of Jesus Christ, observed primarily on December 25 as a Religion, religious and Culture, cultural celebration among billions of people Observance of Christmas by coun ...

, thousands of people from around the world visit the Memorial Chapel and adjacent Museum. At 5:00 p.m. every 24 December, a solemn memorial mass is held at the church and guests thrill to the experience of hearing the famous carol sung in their many languages. Since 2002, this celebration has been transmitted by means of the local webcam on the Internet.

Design

The chapel is an

octagon In geometry, an octagon () is an eight-sided polygon or 8-gon. A '' regular octagon'' has Schläfli symbol and can also be constructed as a quasiregular truncated square, t, which alternates two types of edges. A truncated octagon, t is a ...

in form with a bell helmet and a lantern, and the portal has a

hipped roof A hip roof, hip-roof or hipped roof, is a type of roof where all sides slope downward to the walls, usually with a fairly gentle slope, with variants including tented roofs and others. Thus, a hipped roof has no gables or other vertical sides ...

canopy. The arched windows were created in 1935 by the Tyrolean Stained Glass. The high altar with a relief of the '' Nativity'' is by the sculptor Hermann Hutter, from 1915. The

predella In art a predella (plural predelle) is the lowest part of an altarpiece, sometimes forming a platform or step, and the painting or sculpture along it, at the bottom of an altarpiece, sometimes with a single much larger main scene above, but oft ...

(altar base) relief of ''

The Adoration of the Magi ''The'' is a grammatical article in English, denoting nouns that are already or about to be mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The ...

The Crucifixion The crucifixion of Jesus was the death of Jesus by being nailed to a cross.The instrument of crucifixion is taken to be an upright wooden beam to which was added a transverse wooden beam, thus forming a "cruciform" or T-shaped structure. ...

, The Flight into Egypt'' is by the sculptor Max Domenig, from 1936.

Replicas

Replica models of the Silent Night Chapel exist in the Mini Mundus leisure park at Klagenfurt in

Carinthia Carinthia ( ; ; ) is the southernmost and least densely populated States of Austria, Austrian state, in the Eastern Alps, and is noted for its mountains and lakes. The Lake Wolayer is a mountain lake on the Carinthian side of the Carnic Main ...

(1:25 scale) and the model park

Mönichkirchen Mönichkirchen is a market town in the district of Neunkirchen in the south of the Austrian state of Lower Austria with a population of 607 inhabitants (1.1.2013). Geography Mönichkirchen is situated on the east side of the Wechsel mountain ...

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

. Furthermore, there is a 1:1 scale replica in Frankenmuth in the U.S. state of

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

References

External links

* {{cite web , url = http://www.stillenacht-oberndorf.at/stillenacht , title= The city of Oberndorf Silent Night website Salzburg-Umgebung District Buildings and structures in Salzburg (federal state) Roman Catholic chapels in Austria Christmas music Christmas in Austria Roman Catholic churches completed in 1937 20th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in Austria