Many fans of The Sound Of Music will be delighted to hear they can visit a new museum in Salzburg that is entirely dedicated to the classic film shot in and around the Alpine city.
The story of a rebellious young nun who becomes governess to seven children, her eventual marriage with their father and their escape from the Nazis has won fans worldwide.
Every year, hundreds of thousands of tourists come from all over the world to Salzburg where the story is set.
Particularly in the United States, this idyllic family film is part of the cultural canon, with singers such as Ariana Grande (7 Rings), Gwen Stefani (Wind It Up) and Christina Aguilera (Searching For Maria) all drawing on songs from The Sound Of Music.
The museum explores both the true story behind the cult film and the cultural phenomenon that is The Sound Of Music.
Housed in Hellbrunn Palace, it retells the story of Maria Augusta Trapp (1905-1987) and her family, who left Salzburg in 1938 after the Nazis came to power and built a new life for themselves in the US.
The exhibition traces the myth of The Sound Of Music through historical recordings of the original Broadway musical, as well as clips from the Oscar-winning Hollywood film.
The museum uses the old coach house, the hunters’ and zookeepers’ lodge at the palace, with the gazebo a further highlight.
The film is based on Maria von Trapp's memoirs which she wrote in 1949 once the Trapp Family Singers had found fame throughout the US.
First, in 1959, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II turned their story into a musical, The Sound Of Music.
A few years later, Robert Wise then adapted it for the silver screen, starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. Much of it was shot at the original locations in Salzburg.
Beyond the museum
Beyond the palace, true fans can seek out the Mirabell Palace and Gardens. There, you can see the Pegasus Fountain and steps where Maria and the children sing "Do-Re-Mi".
If you head to Residenzplatz, you can see the spacious square and the Residence Fountain where Maria sang, I Have Confidence.
Bring your comfortable shoes if you plan to head up to Nonnberg Abbey to see the oldest women's monastery in the German-speaking world. There, the real Maria was a novice.
You can also go to the Felsenreitschule, or Summer Riding School, where at the open-air theatre, the family performed their final concert.
St Peter’s Cemetery, an atmospheric graveyard, inspired the film's escape and hiding scenes.
Head outside the city to Leopoldskron Palace where the back patio and boating lake scenes were created.
And half an hour outside Salzburg you can visit Mondsee Basilica, the impressive church where the wedding scene was filmed.
And of course, you can see the Untersberg, the towering mountain that appears at the start and the end of the film.
The new museum also aims to explain to locals what all the excitement is about, as the film is not widely known in German-speaking countries.
Austrians are invited to "encounter the story of the Trapp family, which is so closely linked to Salzburg, and to better understand the resulting phenomenon of a global film success,” says Mayor Bernhard Auinger. - dpa
