'Silent Night' carol turns 200

Salzburg (Austria) : Austria's iconic Silent Night Chapel, where the popular festive carol of the same name is said to have been sung for the first time some two centuries ago, on Monday saw a steady stream of visitors as the Christmas season got into full swing.

The chapel in the northern town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg stands on the site of the former Saint Nicholas Church, where "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht" (the iconic tune's original title in German) was first sung on Christmas Eve in 1818.

The original lyrics were written by Austrian priest Josef Mohr in the German language and Austrian school teacher Franz Xaver Gruber composed the melody, Efe news reported.

The instantly-recognisable carol made it onto the Unesco list of intangible cultural heritage in 2011 and has been translated into hundreds of languages.