"The Sound of Music" House:
Original Trapp Villa becomes a HotelWhen the movie "The Sound of Music" was shot in and around Salzburg in 1965, the villa of the Trapp family was "created"
from several palatial buildings in Salzburg: The
Frohnburg provided its front
facade, Schloss Leopoldskron Palace some lakeside scenery and the palace of
Wasserschloss Anif some pseudo-medieval views. None of the three buildings is
open to the general public: Schloss Leopoldskron is used by the US organisation
"Salzburg Global Seminar" as a campus; Schloss Frohnburg Palace can be visited
and seen from outside, but serves as a dormitroy and rehearsal venue for the
Mozarteum Art University; and the Wasserschloss Anif is the private property of
the Counts of Moy.
Similiarly, the "real" Trapp Villa in the posh area of Aigen was beyond reach
for "The Sound of Music"-savy crowds. This was changed in summer 2008, when the
"Sound of Music Villa" - despite of not featuring in the movie at all - was
transformed into a small hotel and wedding venue. Not the first sudden move in
the turbulent history of the villa.
Originally, the villa in one of Salzburg's most exclusive neighbourhoods was
called "Villa Walburga" and designed by the legendary Salzburg architect
Valentin Ceconi in 1863. It was built for Walburga Weinwurm and named after her;
twenty years later, in 1883, the villa was refurbished for the states- and
noblemen Raimund Hugo Count of Lamberg, again under the guidance of Ceconi.
Following that, the villa was re-named into "Villa Lamberg". Baron Georg Ludwig
von Trapp, he of "The Sound of Music", was a grandson of the Count of Lamberg.
He inherited the villa in 1923 and had it adapted again in 1924.
Trapp Villa: Hit hard by the Nazis, now a Hotel
The property
comprises of the main manor and a farmhouse and became the stage for the romance
between the Baron von Trapp and Maria Kutschera, who became later famous as "Frälein
Maria" in "The Sound of Music". After the family had emigrated to the US in
1938, the building was confiscated by the Nazis. The head of the SS Heinrich
Himmler used the building for his personal needs, transformed the villa's chapel
into a bar and party room and had swastikas carved into the furniture. As a
luxury building, the villa was used for receptions and accommodating Nazi
celebrities and even the Italian fascist leader Benito Mussolini stayed in the
Trapp Villa once.
In 1953, after the villa had been returned to the Trapp family, they sold the
building to a monastic order called "Kongregation der Missionare vom Kostbaren
Blut". In 2008, the missionaries announced that they were going to rent the
Trapp villa to two hotel managers who in turn would make the building a luxury
restaurant. The contract runs at first for a bit more than 12 years.
As of July
2008, visitors can rent 14 rooms with a total of 26 beds. Two of the rooms are
suites with more than 60 square metres; the chapel can be used for weddings, and
the managers of the Trapp Villa Hotel will try to market the facilities as a
wedding venue especially for American and Asian tourists. The "Trapp Family
Lodge" in the US state of Vermont, by the way, is a hotel, too.
"The Sound of Music" on Visit-Salzburg.net
Sound of Music (Main Page) -
Sound of Music Movie Clips (Songs) -
Sound of Music Locations in Salzburg -
Sound of Music Trivia -
Sound of Music Songlist -
The "real" Sound of Music Villa -
Sound of Music Villa goes Hotel
Links
Guide to the locations in Salzburg
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059742/
Review of "The Sound of Music" - opens in new window
http://www.filmsite.org/soun.html
Another Review of the Movie - opens in new window
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