Garsten Abbey () is a former

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

monastery located in

Garsten Garsten is a municipality in the district of Steyr-Land in the Austrian state of Upper Austria. History Garsten was first mentioned as Garstina in documentation around 990, and a monastery was founded there in 1082. After being fully rebuilt in Ba ...

near

Steyr Steyr (; ) is a statutory city (Austria), statutory city, located in the Austrian federal state of Upper Austria. It is the administrative capital, though not part of Steyr-Land District. Steyr is Austria's 12th most populated town and the 3rd lar ...

Upper Austria Upper Austria ( ; ; ) is one of the nine States of Austria, states of Austria. Its capital is Linz. Upper Austria borders Germany and the Czech Republic, as well as the other Austrian states of Lower Austria, Styria, and Salzburg (state), Salzbur ...

. Since 1851, the former monastery buildings have accommodated a prison.

History

The abbey was founded in 1080–1082 by

Ottokar II of Styria Ottokar II (died 28 November 1122) was Margrave of Styria. He was the son of Ottokar I and grandfather of Ottokar III, from the dynasty of the Otakars. In the investiture dispute, he sided with the pope, which resulted in a battle with his br ...

as a community of secular canons and as a dynastic burial place for his family. Together with his fortress, the Styraburg (Schloss Lemberg), it served as a focal point of Ottokar as ruler of the Traungau, and was endowed with significant possessions in the Traisen and

Gölsen The Gölsen is a river in Lower Austria, in the Mostviertel. It is a right tributary of the Traisen. Its drainage basin is . The river begins in Hainfeld with the confluence of the Fliedersbach and the Ramsaubach (also called the ''Innere Gölse ...

valleys, in

Lower Austria Lower Austria ( , , abbreviated LA or NÖ) is one of the nine states of Austria, located in the northeastern corner of the country. Major cities are Amstetten, Lower Austria, Amstetten, Krems an der Donau, Wiener Neustadt and Sankt Pölten, which ...

, probably from the dowry of Ottokar's wife Elisabeth, daughter of the

Babenberger The House of Babenberg was a noble dynasty of Austrian Dukes and Margraves. Descending from the Popponids and originally from Bamberg in the Duchy of Franconia (present-day Bavaria), the Babenbergs ruled the imperial Margraviate of Austria from ...

Leopold II of Austria. In 1107–1108 the monastery was made a priory of the Benedictine

Göttweig Abbey Göttweig Abbey () is a Benedictine monastery near Krems in Lower Austria. It was founded in 1083 by Altmann, Bishop of Passau. In the middle ages the abbey was a seat of learning with a library and a monastic school. The abbey went through ...

; and became an independent abbey in 1110–1111. Its first and greatest abbot was Blessed Berthold of Garsten (d. 1142), a champion of the

Hirsau Reforms William of Hirsau (; – 5 July 1091) was a Benedictine abbot and monastic reformer. He was abbot of Hirsau Abbey, for whom he created the ''Constitutiones Hirsaugienses'', based on the uses of Cluny, and was the father of the Hirsau Reforms, whi ...

, who is buried in the abbey church, and who built the abbey up to such a level that for centuries it was the religious, spiritual and cultural centre of the Eisenwurzen region. Monks from Garsten settled

Gleink Abbey Gleink Abbey (Stift or Kloster Gleink) was a Benedictine monastery located in the town of Steyr in Austria. The monastery was founded in the early 12th century by Arnhalm I of Glunich with monks from Garsten Abbey. Upon its dissolution in 1784, ...

in the 1120s. From 1625 Garsten Abbey was a member of the Benedictine

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 ...

. In 1787 it was dissolved by Emperor

Joseph II Joseph II (13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from 18 August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg monarchy from 29 November 1780 until his death. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Emperor F ...

."Berthold von Garsten", Ökumenische Heiligenlexikon
/ref>

Abbey church

The abbey church still survives as a parish church. It was built by the Carlone family of master builders and is considered one of the most beautiful examples of High

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 ...

architecture in Austria. The church was designed by

Pietro Francesco Carlone Pietro Francesco Carlone (Before 1607 – 1681–82), or Peter Franz Carlone, from the Leoben branch of the Carlone family, was an early Baroque architect who was best known for building abbeys. Life Carlone was born some time before 1607, from ...

using the Jesuit church in Linz as a model, and finished by his sons Carlo Antonio and Giovanni Battista, it was said to have one of the most magnificent interiors of the late Austro-Italian Baroque. Particularly notable are the

stucco Stucco or render is a construction material made of aggregates, a binder, and water. Stucco is applied wet and hardens to a very dense solid. It is used as a decorative coating for walls and ceilings, exterior walls, and as a sculptural and ...

work and the

Dutch Dutch or Nederlands commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands ** Dutch people as an ethnic group () ** Dutch nationality law, history and regulations of Dutch citizenship () ** Dutch language () * In specific terms, i ...

tapestries. The Losenstein chapel, the sacristy and the summer

choir A choir ( ), also known as a chorale or chorus (from Latin ''chorus'', meaning 'a dance in a circle') is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform or in other words ...

are also of special interest. A Christmas market is held in the "Am Platzl" Square in front of the abbey church in late November and early December.

Theatre

Garsten, like several other Benedictine monasteries in Austria, contained a theatre. It was dismantled and moved to

in 1789, where it was reassembled in the former church of the Celestine nuns, whose community had also been dissolved, as the town theatre, which operated until 1958. The building, still known as the Altes Stadttheater, is now a music school.Stadt Steyr: Altes Theater - Geschichte: Raimund Ločičnik
/ref>

Prison

Since 1850 the former monastery buildings have accommodated a prison, ''Justizanstalt Garsten''.
/ref> This is one of the few prisons in Austria where life sentences are carried out. Austrian incest-rapist

Josef Fritzl The Fritzl case was a case that emerged in 2008, when a woman named Elisabeth Fritzl (born 6 April 1966) informed investigators in the city of Amstetten, Lower Austria, that she had been held captive for 24 years by her father, Josef Fritzl ( ...

is serving his sentence there.

References

* Heinz Dopsch: ''Die steirischen Otakare Zu ihrer Herkunft und ihren dynastischen Verbindungen''. In: Gerhard Pferschy (ed.): ''Das Werden der Steiermark. Die Zeit der Traungauer. Festschrift zur 800. Wiederkehr der Erhebung zum Herzogtum''. Verlag Styria, Graz u. a. 1980 (Veröffentlichungen des Steiermärkischen Landesarchives, Band 10), pp. 75–139 * Siegfried Haider: ''Studien zu den Traditionsbüchern des Klosters Garsten'' (= ''Mitteilungen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung''. Ergänzungsband 52). Oldenbourg, München 2008 * Siegfried Haider (ed.): ''Die Traditionsurkunden des Klosters Garsten. Kritische Edition'' (= Quelleneditionen des Instituts für Österreichische Geschichtsforschung. Band 8). Böhlau, Wien 2011 * Siegfried Haider: ''Zur Garstener Äbtereihe im 12. Jahrhundert''. In: ''Jahrbuch des Oberösterreichischen Musealvereines''. Band 149a, Linz 2005, pp. 309–326
online (PDF) on ZOBODAT
. * Karl Krendl: ''„... und verlobten sich hierher“. Wallfahrten im ehemaligen Stift Garsten und seinen Pfarren''. Linz 2011 * Franz Xaver Pritz: ''Geschichte der ehemaligen Benediktiner-Klöster Garsten und Gleink, im Lande ob der Enns, und der dazu gehörigen Pfarren''. Haslinger, 1841
Google eBook
* Historische Landeskommission für Steiermark, Institut für Geschichte – Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz (publ.): ''Urkundenbuch der Steiermark. Band I Von den Anfängen bis 1192''.
Garsten, GA5, Index der Dokumente
* Gottfried Edmund Frieß: ''Geschichte des Benedictiner-Stiftes Garsten in Ober-Oesterreich''. In: StMBO III/2, 1882, pp. 241–248 * Wolfgang Huber, Huberta Weigl (ed.): ''Jakob Prandtauer (1660–1726). Planen und Bauen im Dienst der Kirche''. Exhibition catalogue, St. Pölten 2010, pp. 115–120 {{Authority control Churches in Austria Prisons in Austria Benedictine monasteries in Austria 1080 establishments in Europe Christian monasteries established in the 1080s Monasteries in Upper Austria Monasteries used as prisons

History

Abbey church

Theatre

Prison

References

Further reading