The Sound of Music Wedding Church
St Michael Basilica
Mondsee, Austria
How do you solve a problem like Maria? With these words ringing in our ears we arrived at the very church used in The Sound Of Music for the wedding between Maria and Captain Von Trapp. We were on a Sound of Music Tour that started from nearby Salzburg and this was one of our furthest destinations for the day. It’s certainly a pretty place with bright colours set against vibrant blue skies.
We of course “walked down the aisle” here. It’s so pretty inside. In reality some of the interior scenes were filmed back at the 20th Century Fox studios in Hollywood. This church was used for outside shots and some of the inside areas though. It’s easy to see why it was chosen.
The altar, which was seen in the film, is lovely. It’s also very unique in that there are decorated skeletons in it. The main central position is “occupied” by Abbot Konrad II who was killed defending the monastery in 1145. He wasn’t visible in the movie as they put a statue in to cover him up but if you’re visiting the Basilica you can clearly see him. There are also four more skeletons there too lying below him. It’s kind of eerie but very interesting to see.
Music is a big part of any church and the pipe organ at the back of this place is not only big it’s beautiful too. We didn’t get to hear the sound but we can only imagine how it would reverberate out over the congregation here echoing around the building. It really would fill the whole building with the sound of music!
It’s such a picturesque backdrop here with blue skies and distant mountains offering a great backdrop. The abbey was built in 748 so it’s been around for a very long time! This whole area was once part of Bavaria but moved to Austria in 1506 and has stayed there ever since - apart from a short stint back as part of Bavaria in the Napoleonic era.
Are we glad we went here as part of the Sound Of Music tour - yes. It’s really pretty and such an iconic place to visit for any fans of the movie. The town itself is also nice too, but let’s face it, it was all about the Basilica!