Cribs Museum

Around 1800, the prince bishop Karl Franz Lodron commissioned two large cribs depicting the story of Christ and the Redemption for the grand chapel and a room in his living quarters. Both cribs illustrate numerous scenes based on evangelical stories.  Franz Xaver Nissl and the paralytic Augustin Alois Probst, assisted by his stepbrother Benedikt, were chosen as the engravers.  Probst’s crib contains more than five thousand miniature figurines, all recounting the story of Christ, beginning with the Nativity and continuing to the Passion at the Cross.  Nissl’s crib, depicting episodes of Christmas and the Passion, was put on display during Lent Sundays in the residence chapel.  Other cribs from Brixen, Tyrol, Naples and Sicily enrich this section of the museum.