| Museum | Silent Night Museum Oberndorf |
| Location | Oberndorf |
Theatre curtain from the Schöffleuttheater (the Boatmen’s Theatre). Painted linen, reinforced with two cross bars.
Copy of the original curtain made by R. Standl in December 1819. The picture shows different boatmen’s games such as Schifferstechen (ship-jousting) and Wurstspringen (jumping for sausages). The theatre offered the boatmen an opportunity to earn money in the winter when there was no other work, as sailing usually had to be stopped on St. Rupert’s day, 24 September, due to low water levels. The plays, many of them by Hans Sachs, were learnt by listening to them being read aloud and then repeating them, as hardly anyone could read and write. Work on the river could not begin again until after the snow thawed in spring, often not until mid-May. So they depended on finding alternative ways of earning money.
Photo: Wilhelm Gstöttner
Text: Brigitte Gstöttner
