Fürstenfeld Abbey (, ) is a former

Cistercian The Cistercians (), officially the Order of Cistercians (, abbreviated as OCist or SOCist), are a Catholic religious order of monks and nuns that branched off from the Benedictines and follow the Rule of Saint Benedict, as well as the contri ...

monastery in

Fürstenfeldbruck Fürstenfeldbruck () is a town in Bavaria, Germany, 32 kilometres west of Munich. It is the capital of the district of Fürstenfeldbruck. it had a population of 35,494. Since the 1930s Fürstenfeldbruck has had an air force base. Geography F ...

(formerly known simply as Bruck),

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

. It is situated about 25 km north-west of

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

. The abbey was one of the household monasteries of the

Wittelsbach The House of Wittelsbach () is a former Bavarian dynasty, with branches that have ruled over territories including the Electorate of Bavaria, the Electoral Palatinate, the Electorate of Cologne, County of Holland, Holland, County of Zeeland, ...

s. The abbey church of the

Assumption of the Virgin Mary The Assumption of Mary is one of the four Marian dogmas of the Catholic Church. Pope Pius XII defined it on 1 November 1950 in his apostolic constitution as follows: It leaves open the question of whether Mary died or whether she was ra ...

is held to be a masterpiece of the late

Baroque The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...

in southern Germany.

History

In 1256,

Louis II, Duke of Bavaria Louis the Strict () (13 April 1229 – 2 February 1294) was Duke of Upper Bavaria and Count Palatine of the Rhine from 1253. He is known as Louis II or Louis VI following an alternative numbering. Born in Heidelberg, he was a son of Otto II W ...

(Louis the Severe) killed his first wife,

Marie of Brabant (1226–1256) Marie may refer to the following. People Given name * Marie (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the name ** List of people named Marie * Marie (Japanese given name) Surname * Jean Gabriel-Marie, French compose ...

on suspicion of adultery (which later turned out to be unfounded), the penance for which, as imposed by

Pope Alexander IV Pope Alexander IV (1199 or 1185 – 25 May 1261) was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 12 December 1254 to his death. Early career He was born as Rinaldo di Jenne in Jenne, Italy, Jenne (now in the Province of Rome ...

, was the foundation of a monastery. The first foundation at Seldental, at Tal near Aibling, in 1258, was afterwards moved to the present site near the town of Bruck in 1263. Papal permission for the new foundation to be settled by

monks from

Aldersbach Abbey Aldersbach Abbey () is a former Cistercian monastery in the community of Aldersbach in the district of Passau in the valley of the Vils, Lower Bavaria, Germany. History It was founded in 1127 by Saint Otto, Bishop of Bamberg, as a community ...

had been obtained as early as 1256, but was not confirmed by the

Bishop of Freising The following people were bishops, prince-bishops or archbishops of Freising or Munich and Freising in Bavaria: Bishops of Freising * St. Corbinian (724–730); founded the Benedictine abbey in Freising, although the diocese was not organ ...

until 1265, in which year the new abbey was at last settled. The monks actively promoted the cult of

Leonard of Noblac Leonard of Noblac (also Leonard of Limoges or Leonard of Noblet; also known as Lienard, Linhart, Lenart, Leonhard, Léonard, Leonardo, Annard; died 559) is a Franks, Frankish saint closely associated with the town and abbey of Saint-Léonard-de- ...

, and his shrine at the nearby village of

Inchenhofen Inchenhofen (also known as ''Leahad'' in the local tongue) is a municipality in the district of Aichach-Friedberg in Bavaria in Germany. ''Leahad'' refers to the fact, that it is a pilgrimage site for Saint Leonard of Noblac. Until the Secularisa ...

became a major pilgrimage site.Cassidy-Welch, M., "The cult of St. Leonard", ''Imprisonment in the Medieval Religious Imagination, c. 1150-1400'', Springer, 2011, p. 41
/ref> Louis II endowed and privileged the new abbey very handsomely and when he died, was buried here. His son,

Louis IV, Holy Roman Emperor Louis IV (; 1 April 1282 – 11 October 1347), called the Bavarian (, ), was King of the Romans from 1314, King of Italy from 1327, and Holy Roman Emperor from 1328 until his death in 1347. 20 October 1314 imperial election, Louis' election a ...

, was also a great benefactor to the abbey, which supported him in his dynastic struggle against the Habsburger Frederick the Handsome. Emperor Louis IV died of a stroke at Puch nearby on 11 October 1347 during a bear hunt, and his heart was buried here. Both men named Louis are commemorated by elaborate

monuments. In the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War, fought primarily in Central Europe between 1618 and 1648, was one of the most destructive conflicts in History of Europe, European history. An estimated 4.5 to 8 million soldiers and civilians died from battle, famine ...

, in 1632/33 the monastery was sacked by the troops of

King Gustavus Adolphus Gustavus Adolphus (9 December N.S 19 December">Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates.html" ;"title="/nowiki>Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 19 December15946 November Old Style and New Style dates">N.S 16 November] 1632), also known in English as ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

,"Jeweled Skeletons of the Fürstenfeld Abbey", Atlas Obscura
/ref> and the monks fled to Munich. From 1640 however the abbey began to make an economic recovery. Under Abbot Martin Dallmayr several churches were built and the number of monks doubled. In 1691 the foundation stone was laid of the

monastery buildings, responsibility for the construction of which lay with the Munich court architect and master builder,

Giovanni Antonio Viscardi Giovanni Antonio Viscardi (27 December 1645 – 9 September 1713) was a Swiss architect of the baroque, who worked mostly in Bavaria. Biography Early life and education Giovanni Antonio Viscardi was born in San Vittore GR, San Vittore, Gris ...

Church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary

Construction began after the

War of the Spanish Succession The War of the Spanish Succession was a European great power conflict fought between 1701 and 1714. The immediate cause was the death of the childless Charles II of Spain in November 1700, which led to a struggle for control of the Spanish E ...

, and completed about 1780. Artists employed included the brothers Jacopo and Francesco Appiani and the Asam brothers:

Cosmas Damian Asam Cosmas Damian Asam (29 September 1686 – 10 May 1739) was a German painter and architect during the late Baroque period. Born in Benediktbeuern, he lived in Rome from 1711 to 1713 to study at the Accademia di San Luca with Carlo Marat ...

painted the ceiling frescoes, and

Egid Quirin Asam Egid Quirin Asam (1 September 1692 – 29 April 1750) was a German plasterer, sculptor, architect, and painter. He was active during the Late Baroque and Rococo periods. Born in Tegernsee, Bavaria, Asam worked mainly together with his brot ...

created the side altars and possibly also the design of the high altar. Wandpfeilerkirche on the ''

German Wikipedia The German Wikipedia () is the German-language edition of Wikipedia, a free and publicly editable online encyclopedia. Founded on 16 March 2001, it is the second-oldest Wikipedia edition (after the English Wikipedia). It has articles, ma ...

'' The church contains remains said to be those of Saint

Hyacinth of Caesarea Hyacinth (, ''Hyakinthos''; died 108 AD) was a young Christian living at the start of the second century, who is honored as a martyr and a saint by both the Eastern Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church. Hyacinth is sometimes called by hi ...

and Saint Clemens.

Secularisation and after

In 1803, as a result of the general secularisation in Bavaria, Fürstenfeld Abbey passed into private ownership. The new proprietor was Ignaz Leitenberger, a

Bohemia Bohemia ( ; ; ) is the westernmost and largest historical region of the Czech Republic. In a narrow, geographic sense, it roughly encompasses the territories of present-day Czechia that fall within the Elbe River's drainage basin, but historic ...

n cloth manufacturer. In 1816 it became the property of King

Maximilian I Joseph of Bavaria Maximilian I Joseph (; 27 May 1756 – 13 October 1825) was Duke of Zweibrücken from 1795 to 1799, prince-elector of Bavaria (as Maximilian IV Joseph) from 1799 to 1806, then King of Bavaria (as Maximilian I Joseph) from 1806 to 1825. He was ...

and served as a church of the royal family. In 1817 the Bavarian Field Marshal Prince Wrede bought the monastery, in which a year later a hospital and home for invalid soldiers was opened. In 1866 part of the premises to the south of the church, in use at the time as a hospital, was destroyed in a fire. After 1918 the former service range became the property of the Wittelsbach Compensation Fund, which rented it in 1923 to

Ettal Abbey Ettal Abbey () is a Benedictine order, Benedictine monastery in the village of Ettal close to Oberammergau and Garmisch-Partenkirchen in Bavaria, Germany. With a community (as of 2005) of more than 50 monks, with another five at Wechselburg, the ...

. In 1979 the town of Fürstenfeldbruck acquired the service buildings, which they re-modelled between 1987 and 2001 into a new cultural centre for the citizens of the district of Fürstenfeldbruck.

Burials

Notes

Sources and external links

* *
Official website
*
Fürstenfeld
in the ''Abbeys of Bavaria'' database *
Webcam with pictures of Kloster Fürstenfeld
*
Veranstaltungsforum Fürstenfeldbruck

The Warburg Institute Iconographic Database (photos of the church interior)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Furstenfeld Abbey Roman Catholic churches completed in 1780 Cistercian monasteries in Germany Monasteries in Bavaria Christian monasteries established in the 1250s 1250s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1258 establishments in Europe Buildings and structures in Fürstenfeldbruck (district) 18th-century churches in Germany