Grabinschrift
Grabinschrift

Kramsach Cemetery Museum

The quirkiest museum of Tyrol is the “Jolly Cemetery without any dead persons” with epitaphs from the entire Alpine region

Can a cemetery be funny? This question is answered by the Cemetery Museum (Museumsfriedhof Kramsach), an open-air museum with a collection of witty epitaphs and beautiful wrought-iron grave crosses. Due to the fact that former life was very hard and death was a common companion, ironic and funny epitaphs were written, to handle the destiny in a special way.

These epitaphs were done by the local decorative painters, called "Tuifelemaler" ("Tuifel" = dialect for "devil"). The metalsmith and stone carver Hans Guggenberger from Kramsach founded the museum in 1965/66 after decades of collection activities in North Tyrol, South Tyrol, Salzburg and Bavaria. So the "Jolly Cemetery without any dead persons" accrued: 60 funny epitaphs and crave crosses from the 18th and 19th century can be admired, but nobody has been buried here. Today, more than 200,000 people visit the Kramsach Cemetery Museum every year.

The gravestones are elaborately kept and restored by the Tyrolean Museum Cemetery Association every year, a new are has been added in 2022. There is another "Jolly Cemetery" in Sapanta in Romania, the "Cimitirul Vesel". It is historically documented that the use of bizarre epitaphs startet to spread in the 17th century from England to the mainland, and then to America and Australia.

Contact info

Opening times

  • Tue 19 Mar closed
  • Wed 20 Mar closed
  • Thu 21 Mar closed
  • Fri 22 Mar closed
  • Sat 23 Mar closed
  • Sun 24 Mar closed
  • Mon 25 Mar closed

Despite careful control we cannot guarantee the correctness of the provided data.

Full timetables
Despite careful control we cannot guarantee the correctness of the provided data.

Winter closure 2024 (23/12/2023 - 30/04/2024)

  • Mon closed
  • Tue closed
  • Wed closed
  • Thu closed
  • Fri closed
  • Sat closed
  • Sun closed

Spring 2024 (01/05/2024 - 31/05/2024)

  • Mon 09:00 - 17:00
  • Tue 09:00 - 17:00
  • Wed 09:00 - 17:00
  • Thu 09:00 - 17:00
  • Fri 09:00 - 17:00
  • Sat closed
  • Sun closed

Labor Day 2024 (01/05/2024) 09:00 - 17:00

Ascension Day 2024 (09/05/2024) 09:00 - 17:00

Whit Monday 2024 (20/05/2024) 09:00 - 17:00

Corpus Christi 2024 (30/05/2024) 09:00 - 17:00

Admission

voluntary contribution (offertory box in the chapel)

More information

Toilet facilities available, dogs on a leash are allowed. The Kramsach Cemetery Museum stays open every year from May to December, season start 2024 on the 1st of May.

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