Sound of Music convent attracts movie tourists 

For many movie goers, the 1965 classic The Sound of Music stands out as one of the most beloved motion pictures of all time.

More than a generation have grown up with the film, reliving the story of the musically inclined von Trapp family, while singing by heart the signature soundtrack songs.

This true-life story was turned into one of the biggest Hollywood musicals of all time following the 1949 autobiography of Maria, the convent novice turned family governess. 

Tourists flock to Salzburg, Austria, keen to visit some of the colourful Alpine sights and sounds related to the film and the original family history.

Most popular with tourists is the Sound of Music bus tour. While many locals roll their eyes, the tour draws annually some 300,000 enthusiasts from countries as various as Canada, the U.S., Japan and South Korea.

Eager tourists flock to the tour, visiting original filming locations, including the fascinating convent – Nonnberg Abbey – where Maria discerned her vocation and was later wed to the Captain, a place kept forever beloved in her heart. 

Ironically, the saga of the Trapp family and their famous escape has its origins in the mountains of Austria, a place where majestic natural beauty has constantly enlivened the local populace and inspired their music.

In her memoirs, entitled: The Story of the Trapp Family Singers, Maria relates her love for the mountains, which brings to mind the natural beauty of British Columbia. 

She writes: “When you are a child of the mountains yourself, you really belong to them.  You need them.  They become the faithful guardians of your life. If you cannot dwell on their lofty heights all your life, if you are in trouble, you want at least to look at them.”  

Salzburg is a city of classical music, home to great musicians such as Schubert, Haydn, Brahms, Strauss, and Mozart as well as to a world-famous annual music festival. 

At the same time, Salzburg has always been very Catholic in its culture.  For many years it has been called the “Rome of the North” due to its plethora of monasteries, convents, oratories, and collegiate churches.

The bells and organs of these lovely houses of worship ring forth daily, showcasing Catholic life and adding to the pervasive religious fervour of the city. 

Because Salzburg remains home to an abundance of artistic musical, religious and cultural life, it is no wonder the von Trapp family was both so musical and so Catholic in their faith.     

During the tour, a highlight is the holy hill of Nonnberg, overlooking the city of Salzburg. This is where Maria’s convent is perched, keeping an eye on the city.    

The opening scene of the film which depicts the nuns going to Mass and Maria arriving late was filmed on location at the convent.   

Nonnberg is the first Benedictine Abbey for nuns north of the Alps. Today it is a UNESCO world heritage site, a must-see for all visiting the city. 

Salzburg was founded by Bishop Rupert in 696, when he arrived as a missionary to convert the local populace. He is the one who originated Nonnberg Abbey in 714. 

This makes the abbey the oldest surviving female religious house in the German-speaking world. Its first abbess was St. Erentrudis, a female missionary who was a relative of St. Rupert.   

The monastery is built on solid rock with huge walls, nine feet thick at its foundation. On the way up the hill there is a little terrace where visitors pause for a few moments to admire the vista. 

Maria once stood here, as mentioned in her memoirs, looking out over the railing into the deep valley and upon the houses of Salzburg nestled in the green mountainside. From this vantage point she nervously stood before setting out to meet the Trapp family for the first time. 

The abbey is elevated higher than the highest steeples of the city with a staggering 144 stone steps leading up to it.  

The panorama view includes the picturesque Grabendacher (“ditched roofs,” a roof construction frequently used on old houses in Salzburg). Further, the silver ribbon of the Salzach River can be seen all the way to the mountains from which it comes. 

To the east is located the town of Aigen, the location of Villa Trapp, the original 22-room home of the Trapp family that was built in the 1860s and where the family moved in 1925 after his first wife passed away. Today it is a hotel.      

When Maria joined the convent in her early 20s, she was opting for a quick change from mountain climbing to the cloistered life. Winding her way up the flights of old, worn steps, through the ancient cobblestoned yard, she was greeted by the same large crucifix on the wall that greets visitors today.

Visitors pose for photos here, admiring the statue of St. Erentrudis, foundress of the abbey. The living stones from the walls remain untouched and exactly as they were when Maria lived here.  

Meanwhile, the mystical climate of supernatural beauty is ever present. Maria described the abbey in her memoirs as “one of this most beautiful places on earth.” 

Almost all the rooms in this meaningful place are arched, the ceilings carried by columns, the windows made of stained glass, with massive wood doors. 

There is still a Reverend Mother who guides and counsels the sisters and postulants. 

The Reverend Mother Abbess wears a flowing black habit, with a golden cross suspended around her neck. The current nun in this position speaks some English and is happy to say she enjoyed the film, while adding with a smile that she did not like how the Reverend Mother sang in the film.      

When Maria left the safe walls of the convent, she was assured it was only temporary – she was on loan to Baron von Trapp. God was speaking to her. As she left, Maria noticed these providential words carved in stone in the convent graveyard: “God’s Will Hath No Why.”   

Visiting the chapel of this place inspires pilgrims. To hear the chants of the sisters is an ethereal experience not to be missed. The chants are light and delicate in a way that seems too perfect for this world and is not lived in many other places. 

Maria was wed in the stunning convent chapel on Nov. 26, 1927, the first Sunday of Advent, while the wedding scene in the film was depicted in the town church of Mondsee, near Salzburg.  

Kneeling in the same pews today, visitors hear the great silence and music which would have hovered over the convent church on the wedding day, with the mitred abbot and the seven von Trapp children standing nearby, as Maria and the Captain declared to each other their vows.   

Twelve hundred years have worked and helped to make Nonnberg a place of unearthly splendour. For over 1,000 years women have lived, worked, and prayed at this same location in unbroken silence. 

While the Abbey remains frozen in time, numbers of nuns are dwindling.  Pray to the Master of the Harvest for vocations, that young women may respond generously as Maria did, discerning the Benedictine life in this holy house of prayer. 

The guiding words that Reverend Mother shared with Maria, recorded in her memoirs are worth repeating: “The only important thing on earth for us is to find out what is the will of God and to do it.  Even if it is not pleasant or if it is hard, perhaps very hard?  Now then, go and do it, and wholeheartedly, too.” 

J.P. Sonnen is a tour operator and history docent with Vancouver-based Orbis Catholicus Travel.