The large collection of religious folk art can be traced back to Priest Johann Veichtlbauer. Ordained as a priest in 1893, Veichtlbauer initially worked as an assistant priest in a number of parishes and eventually became Provisor to Frauenstein, the famous pilgrimage destination. He is thought to have rediscovered the famous Virgin of Mercy in an old cupboard in the vestry. Today this is attributed to Gregor Erhart. This was perhaps the crucial experience for his collecting activity, which began in 1909 at the latest, when he became Priest to St. Pantaleon in south Innviertel. Priest Veichtlbauer regularly visited the junk shops and antique dealers in Salzburg. He collected wherever he went, to ensure that “things from the home country aren’t lost”. He was proud to have paid for all the items in his collection and kept a detailed catalogue of them. In 1933 he donated his collection, comprising more than 5,500 items and some 30,000 devotional images, to the town of Ried. He was thus the founder of the Innviertel Museum of Folklore. Priest Veichtlbauer lived in the museum building and maintained his steadily growing collection until his death on 12 April 1939.