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The Silent Night Museum is in Salzburg, Austria and celebrates the life of Joseph Mohr, who wrote the lyrics to the sacred Christmas carol.
For many years, Franz Xaver Gruber was acknowledged as the 19th Century composer of the melody for Silent Night, but the lyricist was unknown. Only in 1995 was documented evidence discovered that identified Father Mohr, an Austrian parish priest, as the author of the poem that Gruber set to music.
The words were written (in German) in 1816 and Father Mohr performed the carol for the first time at his parish church in Oberndorf, Austria, on Christmas Eve in 1818. Gruber was the church organist, but the organ had been damaged and was unplayable. So the debut performance of Silent Night was accompanied by a guitar.
Father Mohr was born in 1792 and died in 1848. The Silent Night Museum occupies his birthplace.
