Admont Abbey (german: Stift Admont) is a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monastery located on the Enns River in the town of Admont, Austria. The oldest remaining monastery in

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

, Admont Abbey contains the largest monastic library in the world as well as a long-established scientific collection. It is known for its

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

architecture, art, and manuscripts. The abbey's location on the borders of the mountainous

Gesäuse National Park The Gesäuse National Park is a national park in the Austrian state of Styria. Located in the mountainous Upper Styrian region, it covers large parts of the Gesäuse range within the Ennstal Alps and the steep water gap of the Enns river between ...

(the name Admont derives from the Latin expression "ad montes", which means "at the mountains") is of unusual scenic beauty.

History

Dedicated to

Saint Blaise Blaise of Sebaste ( hy, Սուրբ Վլասի, ''Surb Vlasi''; el, Ἅγιος Βλάσιος, ''Agios Vlasios''; ) was a physician and bishop of Sebastea in historical Armenia (modern Sivas, Turkey) who is venerated as a Christian saint and m ...

, Admont Abbey was founded in 1074 by Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg with the legacy of the late Saint Hemma of Gurk, and settled by monks from St. Peter's Abbey in Salzburg under abbot Isingrin. The second abbot, Giselbert, is said to have introduced the

Cluniac The Cluniac Reforms (also called the Benedictine Reform) were a series of changes within medieval monasticism of the Western Church focused on restoring the traditional monastic life, encouraging art, and caring for the poor. The movement began wit ...

reforms here. Another of the early abbots, Wolfhold, established a convent for the

education of girls Female education is a catch-all term of a complex set of issues and debates surrounding education (primary education, secondary education, tertiary education, and health education in particular) for girls and women. It is frequently called girls ...

of noble families, and the educational tradition has remained strong ever since. The monastery prospered during the

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...

and possessed a productive scriptorium. Abbot

Engelbert of Admont Engelbert (c. 1250 – 12 May 1331) was Abbot of the Benedictine monastery of Admont in Styria. Life He was born of noble parents at Volkersdorf in Styria, and entered the monastery of Admont about 1267. Four years later he was sent to Prague to s ...

(1297–1327) was a famous scholar and author of many works. Admont Bib 05

The wars against the Turks and the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

(Abbot Valentine was obliged to resign because of his Reformed views) caused a lengthy decline, but with the

Counter-Reformation The Counter-Reformation (), also called the Catholic Reformation () or the Catholic Revival, was the period of Catholic resurgence that was initiated in response to the Protestant Reformation. It began with the Council of Trent (1545–1563) a ...

the abbey flourished once again. In addition to the secondary school, which later moved to

Judenburg Judenburg ( bar, Judnbuag) is a historic town in Styria, Austria. It is the administrative centre of the Murtal district, which was created on 1 January 2012 from the former Judenburg District and former Knittelfeld District. Until 31 December ...

, there were faculties of theology and philosophy. Abbot Albert von Muchar was well known as an historian and taught at the University of Graz. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the abbey reached a high point of artistic productivity, with the works of the world-famous ecclesiastical embroiderer Brother Benno Haan (1631–1720) and the sculptor Josef Stammel. On 27 April 1865, a disastrous fire destroyed almost the entire monastery. While the monastic archives burned, the library could be salvaged. Reconstruction began the following year but was still not complete by 1890. The economic crises of the 1930s forced the abbey to sell off many of its art treasures, and during the period of the

National Socialist Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

government the monastery was dissolved and the monks evicted. They were able to return in 1946 and the abbey today is again a thriving Benedictine community. From 1641, the abbey was a member of the Salzburg Congregation, which in 1930 was merged into the present

Austrian Congregation The Austrian Congregation is a congregation of Benedictine monasteries situated in Austria, within the Benedictine Confederation. History The Congregation was founded on 3 August 1625 by Pope Urban VIII, and consisted of eleven Benedictine monaster ...

of the

Benedictine Confederation The Benedictine Confederation of the Order of Saint Benedict ( la, Confœderatio Benedictina Ordinis Sancti Benedicti) is the international governing body of the Order of Saint Benedict. Origin The Benedictine Confederation is a union of monasti ...

Abbey church

The present church was designed by the architect Wilhelm Bücher to replace the former church after the fire of 1865. It is inspired by

Regensburg Cathedral Regensburg Cathedral (german: Dom St. Peter or Regensburger Dom), also known as St. Peter's Cathedral, is an example of important Gothic architecture within the German state of Bavaria. It is a landmark for the city of Regensburg, Germany, and ...

and was the first sacred building in Austria in the neo-Gothic style. It incorporates 12th century Romanesque side doors. The two west towers are 67 metres tall, and the facade contains figures of

Saint Benedict Benedict of Nursia ( la, Benedictus Nursiae; it, Benedetto da Norcia; 2 March AD 480 – 21 March AD 548) was an Christianity in Italy, Italian Christian monk, writer, and theologian who is venerated in the Catholic Church, the Eastern Ortho ...

and

Saint Scholastica Scholastica (c. 480 – 10 February 543) is a saint of the Catholic Church, the Eastern Orthodox Churches and the Anglican Communion. She was born in Italy. According to a ninth century tradition, she was the twin sister of Benedict of Nursia. ...

. The figure of the church's patron,

, tops the pinnacle of the west door. The interior consists of a central aisle and two side aisles, off each of which are five side chapels and six altars. The picture on the altar of Mary, ''Maria Immaculata'' by

Martino Altomonte Martino Altomonte, born Johann Martin Hohenberg (8 May 1657, Naples – 14 September 1745, Vienna) was an Italian Baroque painter of Austrian descent who mainly worked in Poland and Austria. Life and work Martino Altomonte (Johann Martin Hohen ...

(1657–1745), is surrounded by 15 carved medallions of the secrets of the rosary by Stammel. Both works of art were created in 1726 and survived the fire of 1856. In a side chapel is located the famous crib of Admont, also by Stammel. It is open to view from 25 December to 2 February. The

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

crucifix under the triumphal arch dated 1518 is ascribed to Andreas Lackner. A statue of Saint Blaise stands on top of the high altar of white Carrara marble. The

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

is decorated with early 18th century tapestries by Benno Haan. In the Chapel of St. Benedict is a Baroque Corpus Christi from the workshop of Johann Meinrad Guggenbichler.

Present day

The community at Admont consists of over 27 monks under Abbot Bruno Hubl. The abbey is responsible for 27 parishes, runs a secondary school with about 600 pupils and a senior citizen's home in Frauenberg. Its various businesses and enterprises employ about 500 people, and it also has the management of the museums and collections detailed below.

Library

The library hall, built in 1776 to designs by the architect

Joseph Hueber Joseph Hueber, (1715 or 1717–1787), was a significant Austrian baroque master builder who studied under Johann Lukas von Hildebrandt. Buildings & Projects Among his most notable achievements are the Parish Church of Our Lady on the Weizberg in ...

, is 70 metres long, 14 metres wide and 13 metres high, and is the largest monastery library in the world. It contains c. 70,000 volumes of the monastery's entire holdings of c. 200,000 volumes. The ceiling consists of seven cupolas, decorated with frescoes by Bartolomeo Altomonte showing the stages of human knowledge up to the high point of Divine Revelation. Light is provided by 48 windows and is reflected by the original colour scheme of gold and white. The architecture and design express the ideals of the

Enlightenment Enlightenment or enlighten may refer to: Age of Enlightenment * Age of Enlightenment, period in Western intellectual history from the late 17th to late 18th century, centered in France but also encompassing (alphabetically by country or culture): ...

, against which the sculptures by Joseph Stammel of "The Four Last Things" make a striking contrast. The abbey possesses over 1,400 manuscripts, the oldest of which, from St. Peter's Abbey in Salzburg, were the gift of the founder, Archbishop Gebhard, and accompanied the first monks to settle here, as well as over 900

incunabula In the history of printing, an incunable or incunabulum (plural incunables or incunabula, respectively), is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were pro ...

Burials

* Gebhard of Salzburg *

Anastasia of Kiev Anastasia of Kiev (russian: Анастасия Ярославна; uk, Анастасія Ярославна; 1023 – 1074/1094) was Queen of Hungary by marriage to King Andrew the White. Life Anastasia was a daughter of Grand Prince Yarosl ...

Museums

Since the Baroque period the abbots had accumulated a collection of "curiosities" and scientific specimens of various sorts, which were entirely destroyed in the fire of 1865. As part of the reconstruction, Father Gabriel Strobl determined to replace the lost collections, and so formed the nucleus of the modern museums. Father Strobl was himself a botanist but also worked on building up the insect collection, so much so that he became one of the great entomologists of his day. The Natural History museum now contains over 250,000 insect specimens, including one of the three largest collections of flies, or

Diptera Flies are insects of the order Diptera, the name being derived from the Greek δι- ''di-'' "two", and πτερόν ''pteron'' "wing". Insects of this order use only a single pair of wings to fly, the hindwings having evolved into advanced ...

, in Europe. Other collections of, for example, minerals and rock, and exotic species, have also been formed. The abbey also houses two major art collections of Historical and Modern Art. The historical art collection was begun in 1959 by Father Adalbert Krause, and has been significantly augmented since 1980. The present museum was opened in 2003. The collection particularly features ecclesiastical art, and contains for example many works of ecclesiastical embroidery by the famous craftsman Benno Haan and of the abbey sculptor Joseph Stammel. Since 1997, the abbey has also been building up a collection of contemporary art, largely produced by young Austrian artists and often specially designed for the abbey premises.

Gallery

StiftAdmont.jpg, Admont Abbey on the Enns River StiftAdmont2008.JPG, Admont Abbey on the Enns River 001 Admont - J.F.Kaiser Lithografirte Ansichten der Steiermark 1825.jpg, Lithograph by Joseph Franz Kaiser, 1825 Admont um 1840.1.jpg, Oil painting by Anton Schiffer, 1840 Handschriften.jpg, Handschriften und Inkunabeln Pater Engelbert.johnsbach.holzhack3.jpg, Ora et labora Admont Hemma 2.jpg, Hemma Statue Admont 5180.JPG, Rosarium Admont Kreuzigung.JPG, ''Admont Crucifixion''

References

External links

Admont Abbey websiteCastYourArt's audio interview with the curator
Dr. Michael Braunsteiner, of the museum of contemporary art in the Admont Monastery {{Authority control Benedictine monasteries in Austria Libraries in Austria Monasteries in Styria 1070s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1074 establishments in Europe Christian monasteries established in the 11th century Museums in Styria Natural history museums in Austria Art museums and galleries in Austria Art museums established in 2003