“The Sound of Music” Museum Opens in Salzburg

An Austrian museum dedicated to the classic 1965 film “The Sound of Music” opened Sunday in Salzburg, the city famous as the home of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart and the setting for the beloved musical.

The Sound of Music Salzburg museum is the first venue to focus on the Hollywood blockbuster starring Julie Andrews. Among the attendees at the opening was Elisabeth von Trapp, granddaughter of Georg and Agathe von Trapp, whose family’s life inspired the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical and the subsequent film. Von Trapp continues to lead tours of film sites in Salzburg.

"It is intimate enough so you really have a beautiful sense of the storyline of both the Sound of Music and the Trapp family singers — my relatives. I’m very proud of that,” Elisabeth von Trapp said of the new museum.

She clarified details about her family, noting that her father, Werner von Trapp, was one of the original Trapp Family Singers but was depicted as the character Kurt in the movie. "My father is depicted in the movie as Kurt; his name was Werner von Trapp. Just to set the record straight,” she said.

The museum is housed in the 17th-century Hellbrunn Palace, a location used for several scenes in the film. It aims to distinguish between the real von Trapp family’s history and the narrative presented in the 1959 Broadway musical and the 1965 film.

The historical account, set against the backdrop of Nazi Germany’s annexation of Austria in 1938, centers on a governess named Maria. She teaches the seven von Trapp children music before falling in love with their widowed father, Georg von Trapp.

Museum officials pointed out that the real Georg von Trapp, a former submarine commander in the Austro-Hungarian navy, was not the “strict paternalist” portrayed by actor Christopher Plummer in the film, but rather “a considerate, albeit much-burdened, father.”

Visitors can view approximately 450 items, including props and costumes from the movie, cinema posters, and recordings of the music. A notable exhibit is the gazebo where characters Liesl von Trapp and Rolf perform the duet “Sixteen going on Seventeen.”

Salzburg draws hundreds of thousands of film fans annually. John and Terry Combs, visitors from Dayton, Ohio, were accompanying Elisabeth von Trapp on a walking tour during the museum's opening weekend. "I love the combination of it being much about the movie, of course, but about the real von Trapp family, which I’ve read much about over the years,” Terry Combs said. “And having met and known Elisabeth a little bit — it just brought it full circle.”

The exhibition is scheduled to be open daily through November 1. Following a temporary closure later this year, the museum plans to reopen in March.