(La Porte, IN) -A miniature mechanical church that’s been a Christmas season tradition in La Porte since 1947 is back for public viewing.

The Giese Church is at the La Porte County Historical Society Museum.

As usual, it’ll be on display throughout the season and on December 20 for a special public viewing at the museum from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m.

Hot cocoa and cookies will be provided.

According to local historians, Otto Giese spent Christmas in 1944 serving the country in Belgium as a soldier during World War II. With shells and bombs from the Germans exploding, he quickly made a vow to God if he made it back home alive he would do something to remember and preserve the true spirit of Christmas.

Soon, Giese found himself in the five-week-long Battle of the Bulge, the last major German offensive of the war in Europe that led to Germany’s defeat.

In 1947, Giese fulfilled his promise by making the church, featuring an altar, pulpit, chandeliers, a balcony, and pews on the inside, as well as stained glass windows.

Giese placed it on the lawn of his funeral home on Harrison Street, where it was visited by an estimated 10,000 people during the first holiday season it was on display.

Christmas music played from within the church twice a day every Sunday. Tiny electric lights were added to the chandeliers the following year. In 1950, a conveyor system allowing robed wooden choir members holding candles to move down the aisle was added.

He later added a moving wooden pastor who enters the altar and turns toward the congregation before delivering a sermon. The voice of the pastor is of the late Ken Coe, once the longtime owner of radio stations WLOI and WCOE in LaPorte.

After retiring in 1978, Giese donated the church to the LaPorte County Historical Society Museum, where electrical experts and other professional volunteers have kept it maintained over the years.

Giese was 90 when he ultimately passed away in 2002.