The Sound of Music Museum Opens in Salzburg

The Sound of Music Salzburg museum, a venue dedicated to the classic 1965 film starring Julie Andrews, opened its doors on Sunday in Salzburg, Austria. The city, known as the birthplace of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, now hosts this new attraction focusing on the beloved musical.

Among the attendees at the opening was Elisabeth von Trapp, granddaughter of Georg and Agathe von Trapp, whose family's story inspired the Rodgers & Hammerstein musical and the subsequent Hollywood blockbuster. Von Trapp continues to lead tours of film locations 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 noted that her father, Werner, was depicted in the film as Kurt, despite his actual name being Werner von Trapp.

The museum is housed in the 17th-century Hellbrunn Palace, a location where several scenes from the film were shot. It aims to distinguish between the actual history of the von Trapp family and the fictionalized narrative presented in the 1959 Broadway musical and the 1965 film.

The film's story, set against the backdrop of Nazi Germany's annexation of Austria in 1938, follows Maria, a governess who teaches the seven von Trapp children to sing and fosters a love of music. She eventually falls in love with their widowed father and employer, Georg von Trapp.

Museum officials clarified that the real Georg von Trapp, a commander in the Austro-Hungarian navy, was a "considerate, albeit much-burdened, father" rather than the "strict paternalist" portrayed by actor Christopher Plummer in the film.

The exhibition features nearly 450 objects, including props, costumes, and film posters from "The Sound of Music." A notable display is a replica of the gazebo where the characters Liesl von Trapp and Rolf perform the duet "Sixteen Going on Seventeen."

Salzburg attracts hundreds of thousands of fans of the Academy Award-winning film each year. Visitors John and Terry Combs from Dayton, Ohio, expressed their appreciation for the museum's dual focus on the movie and the real von Trapp family.

"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," said Terry Combs. "And having met and known Elisabeth a little bit — it just brought it full circle."

The museum is open daily until November 1. It is scheduled to reopen in March of the following year.