In time for its 200th anniversary, the town where 'Silent Night' was first performed is preparing to celebrate the carol that put it on the map.

Hermann Schneider is a guide at the Stille Nacht Museum in Oberndorf, Austria, and their resident expert on all things 'Silent Night.'

The carol, originally performed for the first time on Christmas Eve in 1818, was written by Joseph Mohr and composed by church organist Franz Gruber.

Today, the song has been translated into over 300 languages and dialects and persists as one of the world's most famous (and beloved) Christmas carols.

While known by what seems to be every person today, the success and prevalence of 'Silent Night' was not initially realized until almost 30 years after its first performance.

Schnieder says that the song, originally written in the key of C major, had become lost over the years, but was shared orally through local market carriers and by settlers who sailed to the United States.

It was rediscovered and committed to paper once again only when Gruber's grandson as a member of a monastery's choir recognized the song.

What Gruber had once called "a simple composition" had evolved into a well-loved carol, and continued to spread across the world.

This year, an outdoor, televised performance of 2000-3000 people singing the carol at St. Nicola's Parish, the site of the song's original performance will mark the occasion of 'Silent Night's' 200th anniversary.

"There was no Christmas without 'Silent Night.'"

Schneider says that people from as far as Sri Lanka and California, U.S.A. have travelled to Austria to experience the momentous anniversary of 'Silent Night' in person.

"Many people think that there are just so many things to see in Austria, especially around Salzberg, and they spend half a day coming here to [come see] a simple chapel and a little Christmas market and a museum beside it.

"It must mean something to them."

But with people travelling from far and wide to the small Austrian town where 'Silent Night' was first composed, does the song still hold the same meaning as it did on the Eve of its first performance? 

As an 82-year-old lady visiting Salzberg from San Diego, California responded: "There was no Christmas without 'Silent Night.'"

Its why the popular Christmas carol continues to live on, 200 years after its first performance, says Schneider. The spirit of the song, the same spirit found still in Oberndorf today, remains alive and vibrant in the minds and hearts of all those who encounter it.