Tirol

Silent Night country: Tirol

Fügen: The location in the Zillertal valley is the home of the organ builder Carl Mauracher, who brought the song from Oberndorf to Tirol. Also from Fügen are the original Rainer singers, who created the Tirolean national style of singing. In the museum of local history in the Widumspfiste, an entire section is dedicated to the song “Silent Night!”: And it is also home to the biggest collection of recordings of silent Night anywhere in the world.

Hippach: The Strasser siblings of the family of singers of the same name, came from Hippach in the Zillertal valley. They were the first – that we have evidence of – to sing “Silent Night” outside Austria, and that was in Leipzig in 1831. In the house in which the Strasser siblings were born (“Strasser-Häusl”), which is now a historically listed building, there is now a museum that tells the story of the austere ways of life endured by the Zillertal-valley farmers of the past and why they chose to spread this song, “Silent Night!”, across the world.

Lake Achensee Region: Ludwig Rainer (1821 – 1893) came originally from the Zillertal valley and is regarded as one of the most famous Tirolean national singers who made the song internationally famous. Following spending decades travelling across America, Europe and Russia on concert tours he opened the Hotel Seehof in Achenkirch on the banks of Lake Achensee in 1870. His last resting place and the Seehof Chapel continue to keep his memory alive up to today. In Sixenhof, the museum of local history in Achental, there will be an exhibition on Ludwig Rainer and the international spread of the song starting from November 2018.