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

  • Sat 03 Jun closed
  • Sun 04 Jun closed
  • Mon 05 Jun 09:00 - 17:00
  • Tue 06 Jun 09:00 - 17:00
  • Wed 07 Jun 09:00 - 17:00
  • Thu 08 Jun 09:00 - 17:00
  • Fri 09 Jun 09:00 - 17:00

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 2023 (02/01/2023 - 04/30/2023)

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

Spring 2023 (05/01/2023 - 06/09/2023)

  • 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 2023 (05/01/2023) 09:00 - 17:00

Ascension Day 2023 (05/18/2023) 09:00 - 17:00

Whit Monday 2023 (05/29/2023) 09:00 - 17:00

Corpus Christi 2023 (06/08/2023) 09:00 - 17:00

Summer 2023 (06/12/2023 - 09/08/2023)

  • 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

Feast of the Assumption 2023 (08/15/2023) 09:00 - 17:00

Autumn 2023 (09/11/2023 - 11/24/2023)

  • 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

Austrian National Day 2023 (10/26/2023) 09:00 - 17:00

All Saints 2023 (11/01/2023) 09:00 - 17:00

Admission

voluntary contribution (offertory box in the chapel)

More information

The Cemetery Museum has got toilet facilities. Winter closure from January to April.

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