Franz Xaver Gruber, the village schoolmaster who composed the music for "Silent Night, Holy Night" in 1818, spent the second half of his life in Hallein and is buried in front of the parish church. His house, on the Gruberplatz beside the church, is now a small museum.
The exhibits include the guitar on which the song was first performed (the church organ in Oberndorf had broken), Gruber's manuscripts, and a room reconstructed as he would have known it. The museum is small but its subject is famous everywhere. Closed in November and from January to March; open daily otherwise.