Steingasse

This guide to Steingasse in Salzburg starts by correcting a plaque that has been quietly wrong for two hundred years, misplacing the birth house of Joseph Mohr, who wrote the words to Silent Night. You'll hear about the lane's long life among tanners, dyers and brothels still marked by red lanterns, and about an unmarried seamstress named Anna Schoiber, who gave birth here in December 1792 after the father, a soldier named Franz Mohr, deserted her. The guide follows the search for someone respectable willing to stand as the baby's godfather, and finds no one willing to step forward. Look up at the lanterns still hanging over the doorways as you walk.