FRANKENMUTH, Mich. — If you're headed to Frankenmuth this holiday season, did you know you can see a replica of the chapel where the Christmas song "Silent Night" was first sung?
It's located outside of Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland.
The original church, located in Oberndorf, Austria, was taken out in a flood, and a chapel was later built in its place.
It marks the sight where Silent Night was first sung in 1818.
The story goes — the church's organ broke on Christmas Eve, so a member of the congregation quickly wrote the words to the song we now know as "Silent Night". Another member of the congregation wrote and the music, and they sang it to guitar in that church.
Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland founder Wally Bronner was inspired when he visited the chapel in Austria.
"Dad had talked to the officials from Oberndorf, Austria, and wondered if he could replicate that chapel here," said Bronner's CHRISTmas Wonderland Vice President Carla Bronner-Spletzer. "They gave him permission, and so in 1992, the Silent Night Chapel was built here," she said.
Bronner's does not hold any services in the church, but there is an altar area and pews that replicate the chapel in Oberndorf.
They add it's open to the public during store hours and is meant to celebrate the meaning of Christmas.
