Pielenhofen Abbey () is a former

Cistercian nunnery Cistercian nuns are female members of the Cistercian Order, a religious order of the Catholic Church. History The Cistercian Order was initially a male order. Cistercian female monasteries began to appear by 1125. The first Cistercian monastery ...

(founded in 1240), in Pielenhofen in the valley of the

Naab __NOTOC__ The Naab (Czech: ''Nába'') is a river in Bavaria, Germany. This 97.5 kilometer long river is a left tributary of the Danube. Its average discharge at the mouth is . The Naab is formed by the confluence of the Waldnaab and the Hai ...

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 was occupied until 2010 by the Visitandines, also known as the Salesian Sisters. The

Diocese of Regensburg The Diocese of Regensburg (; ) is a Latin Church diocese of the Catholic Church with its episcopal see based in Regensburg, Germany. Its district covers parts of northeastern Bavaria; it is subordinate to the archbishop of Munich and Freising. ...

maintains a school here.

History

The abbey at Pielenhofen for

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 ...

nuns, dedicated to the

Assumption of the Blessed 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 ...

, was founded in 1240 by the lords of Hohenfels and Ehrenfels. In 1542, during the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

in Pfalz-Neuburg, it was placed under secular administration. In 1655, it was subordinated to

Kaisheim Abbey The Imperial Abbey of Kaisersheim (German:''Reichsstift Kaisersheim'' or ''Kloster Kaisersheim''), was a Cistercians, Cistercian monastery in Kaisersheim (now Kaisheim), Bavaria, Germany. As one of the 40-odd self-ruling imperial abbeys of the Ho ...

as a sub-priory. During the

secularisation In sociology, secularization () is a multilayered concept that generally denotes "a transition from a religious to a more worldly level." There are many types of secularization and most do not lead to atheism or irreligion, nor are they automatica ...

of Bavaria in 1803, the priory was dissolved; the nuns' church became a parish church. In 1806,

Carmelite The Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Virgin Mary of Mount Carmel (; abbreviated OCarm), known as the Carmelites or sometimes by synecdoche known simply as Carmel, is a mendicant order in the Catholic Church for both men and women. Histo ...

nuns from

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 ...

and

Neuburg an der Donau Neuburg an der Donau (Central Bavarian: ''Neiburg an da Donau'') is a town which is the capital of the Neuburg-Schrobenhausen district in the state of Bavaria in Germany. Divisions The municipality has 16 divisions: * Altmannstetten * Bergen, N ...

moved into the premises as a joint nunnery. In 1838, the Visitandines, also known as Salesian Sisters, bought it, and established a girls' school here. In 1981, the Pielenhofen Primary School, a boarding school of the Regensburg Cathedral Choir, replaced the earlier school. In 2010, the five remaining nuns moved to the community of the Visitandines at Zangberg.Visitandine website
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Abbey church

The

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 ...

church has two towers of three storeys, two aisles and a

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

, under a cupola in the centre. The church contains a late Baroque high altar with eight columns. The ceiling with a depiction of the

Holy Trinity The Trinity (, from 'threefold') is the Christian doctrine concerning the nature of God, which defines one God existing in three, , consubstantial divine persons: God the Father, God the Son (Jesus Christ) and God the Holy Spirit, three ...

is by Jacob Carl Stauder. The pictures of the

twelve apostles In Christian theology and ecclesiology, the apostles, particularly the Twelve Apostles (also known as the Twelve Disciples or simply the Twelve), were the primary disciples of Jesus according to the New Testament. During the life and minist ...

are by Johann Gebhard of

Prüfening Abbey Prüfening Abbey () was a Benedictine order, Benedictine monastery on the outskirts of Regensburg in Bavaria, Germany. Since the beginning of the 19th century it has also been known as Prüfening Castle (''Schloss Prüfening''). Notably, its Prüfe ...

Notes and references

Sources and external links

Klöster in Bayern: Pielenhofen - Zisterze im Naabtal

{{Authority control Cistercian nunneries in Germany Monasteries in Bavaria 1240s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1240 establishments in Europe Buildings and structures in Regensburg (district)