Muri-Gries Abbey
The Muri-Gries Abbey is a South Tyrolean Benedictine abbey based in the Gries-Quirein district of Bolzano at Grieser Platz 21. It was founded in 1845 by friars who came from the Muri monastery , which was closed four years earlier . For this reason the abbey is a member of the Swiss Benedictine Congregation . The monastery buildings, which arose out of a castle, previously housed an Augustinian canon monastery from the early 15th century until its abolition in 1807 . In 1977 the facility was placed under monument protection.
history
Canon Monastery of Gries
Around 1160, Countess Mathilde von Valley and her husband, Count Arnold III. von Morit- Greifenstein a canon monastery in Bozen . It was in the Au (today in the Don Bosco-Neugries district ) and was occupied by Augustinian canons . In 1166 the new foundation is mentioned for the first time in imperial and papal confirmations as " in loco Howe " and in 1174 as " in Owe " (from which the Latin name in Augia or Augea originated). The location in the Eisackauen was not ideal as floods often occurred. A particularly devastating flood forced the Canons in 1405 to give up the complex; today only the foundation walls of the collegiate church remain. Duke Leopold IV of Habsburg transferred Gries Castle to the Canons as a replacement in 1406 as a donation. This was built in the late 12th century by the Counts of Tyrol and came into the possession of the Habsburgs in 1363.
In addition to the former castle, the collegiate church of St. Augustin was built by 1416 , and the inner courtyard of the castle was expanded into a cloister . From 1768 to 1770 the collegiate church was rebuilt according to plans by the architect Antonio Giuseppe Sartori in the late Baroque style, with frescoes by Martin Knoller . For financial reasons, the equipment of the church had to be interrupted several times. The Josephine reforms put the pen under additional pressure.
As a result of the Peace of Pressburg , Tyrol came to Bavaria in 1805 . The Bavarian government declared the Grieser Stift in September 1807 to be abolished. To make the sale of the goods more difficult, Provost Augustin Nagele signed a lease. The Peace of Schönbrunn , with which the area around Bolzano temporarily came to the Kingdom of Italy in 1809 , again resulted in the abolition of the monastery. Several requests for restoration by the friars remained ineffective.
Muri-Gries Benedictine Abbey
In 1841 the Muri monastery , a Benedictine abbey in Switzerland, was dissolved as a result of the Aargau monastery dispute. As a result, Abbot Adalbert Regli, the 28 priest monks and eight lay brothers had to leave the monastery buildings in the canton of Aargau and the abbey in Muri founded by the Habsburgs in the 11th century . The expelled Muri monks were able to find temporary accommodation in the incorporated parishes, in the monasteries of Einsiedeln and Engelberg, with relatives, in the Uttingerhof on Lake Zug and, above all, in the Sarnen College of Latin Schools to teach there. On behalf of the cantonal government, the Muri monks took over the management of this former Jesuit school in November 1841. From here, Abbot Adalbert maintained intensive negotiations for years with Emperor Ferdinand of Austria and his advisers Prince Metternich, State Councilor Jüstel and Joseph Freiherr von Werner regarding the temporary move to the abolished Augustinian canons of Gries near Bozen. Above all, Klemens Wenzel Lothar von Metternich , the Austrian State Chancellor, campaigned for the restoration of the abbey, which had been vacant for decades. Protests and threats to the Diet and the government of the Canton of Aargau remained ineffective.
After Metternich made this offer to Abbot Adalbert Regli , he traveled to Gries for the first time in October 1843 to inspect the facility. Negotiations began soon afterwards. The first friars from Muri arrived in Gries on June 24, 1845 and founded the Muri-Gries Abbey. She is still a member of the Swiss Benedictine Congregation and legally a priory of Muri. A teachers' seminar was opened next to the collegiate church . Four years after South Tyrol came to Italy , the fascist government closed the seminar again in 1923. An agricultural school existed in the building until 1926 and again from 1947 to 1962. In 1977 the collegiate church was renovated.
Today the Benedictine abbey Muri-Gries maintains a priory in Sarnen in addition to the monastery in Bozen-Gries and, since 1960, a hospice in Muri, and it also looks after several parishes.
Collegiate church
facade
The collegiate church is dedicated to St. It was consecrated to Augustine and was built in 1769–1771 according to plans by Antonio Giuseppe Sartori . The sweeping, rounded, vertically oriented facade, including the cross, is not quite 25 meters in height. It is located on the former village square of Gries. Mighty half-columns with Corinthian capitals rise on high plinths , above which a curved and split architrave structure completes the facade. Above the portal made of red marble, the door wing of which was installed in 1867, St. Benedict and coat of arms show, the coat of arms of the canons of Gries can be seen flanked by two angels. An angel sitting on the middle window of the facade unrolls a dedication inscription in Latin to the highest, best God .
Entrance area
The flat-roofed entrance area is separated from the nave by a wrought-iron grille decorated with flowers, vases and birds, which comes from the monastery church of the Cölestinerinnen . The side chapels were built in 1906. In them are the altars with the figure groups Christ on the cross on the left and with the death of St. Josef , both of which were carved in the neo-Gothic style by Josef Bachlechner in 1908 . The altars themselves are modeled on the Renaissance style. Further works by Bachlechner can be found in the arched niches above the entrances and as an attachment on the font. The baroque holy water fonts and knee benches were moved here from the Dominican monastery in Bozen.
Organ choir
At the organ choir above the entrance area there was originally an instrument made by the organ builder Johann Anton Fuchs from Innsbruck from 1787/88. The wooden organ case is still preserved and was created by the carpenter Joseph Zangl from Steinach am Brenner . The classical decorations consist of rosettes and flower vases. The gilding was done by the Bolzano painter Joseph Anton Cusetti the Younger, who also painted the marble on the pillars and painted the walls in the nave. After several repairs in the 19th century, the organ was replaced in 1907 by the Anton Behmann company from Schwarzach in Vorarlberg. Today's organ comes from the organ building company Manfred Mathis & Co. from 1971.
inner space
The nave measures 25.5 × 15.3 m and is 17.1 m high. It is flanked by six side altars in not very deep niches. Between them, high pillars structure the walls, which are closed off by capitals , and above them a cantilevered cornice . The presbytery dome and the imposing barrel vault rise above it. There are niches between the two pillars that separate the side chapels and four oratorios above them . Under these are the box-shaped confessionals . In three of the niches are the statues of the Latin church fathers Ambrose , Hieronymus and Gregory the Great by Caspar Schonger, in the fourth niche is the pulpit on the north wall , which was designed by Andrea Filippini in 1780.
Also by Filippini are the side altars, which he assembled from altars from closed churches or from broken altars from Trentino ; the two front side altars have been rebuilt in their original condition. On both sides of all altars there are wooden apostles by Caspar Schonger from Kaltern . Martin Knoller created the altarpieces ; they depict the birth of Jesus , the adoration of the Magi , the resurrection of Christ , the ascension of Christ , the descent of the Holy Spirit and the last supper (1795–1800). On the altar with the picture of the birth of Jesus, which was the first to be completed by Knoller and which came to the church on October 20, 1795 after a public exhibition in Milan , there is the miraculous image of Maria Keller in a glass shrine made of gilded wood. This wooden statue from the 15th century was given a crown and a scepter in the 18th century, was newly set and the figure of the baby Jesus was added. It comes from the old parish church of Our Lady in Basement . To the right of the side altar with the representation of the Ascension of Christ, the grave slab of the founder of Maria in der Au, Mathilde von Valley , was set into the wall.
The original pictures of the Stations of the Cross by Michelangelo Unterberger , which were transferred here from the abandoned monastery of the Coelestines, are now in the monastery. They were replaced by new pictures around 1906.
Frescoes
The ceiling frescoes of the church were created by Martin Knoller 1771–1773 and all refer to St. Augustine, the church patron. Above the organ gallery is the conversion of St. Augustine seen (1771).
In the barrel vault of the nave, Augustine as a teacher and writer (1772) is depicted in a gilded stucco frame . The illusionistic depth effect of this picture, which points far up in the middle through the painted pseudo-architecture, is increased by the heretics falling out of the frame and being hit by lightning bolts from the pen of the saint. In the middle of the fresco is Christ in the glory of heaven, halfway up the figure is the personification of the Church with the consecrated host in hand. The dimensions of the ceiling fresco are 23 × 9 m. Outside the stucco frame, but directly next to the central fresco, the personifications of the four continents Europe, Africa, America and Asia are shown.
In the dome above the presbytery, Knoller finally placed the picture of St. Augustine in heaven (1773). The saint is made by Caritas , the love of God, to St. Trinity lifted up. The figures of faith (a crowned woman with the sun on her breast) and hope (with a large anchor) can also be seen in heaven. In addition to prophets and biblical figures, about 30 figures populate the sky, the religious communities which according to the rule of St. Augustine live, symbolize. Together with the angels there are 104 figures on the fresco in the dome. In the spandrels there are personifications of the cardinal virtues wisdom , justice , measure and courage , which show the way to heaven.
presbytery
The presbytery is separated from the nave by a triumphal arch and a communion bench made of multicolored marble columns . Two side portals lead from the presbytery into the side aisles and into the sacristy . They are roofed by curved gables and elegantly arched, bulbous balcony-shaped oratorios, on which the coat of arms of the chapter can be seen on the right and the coat of arms of the provost Albert Prack, who had the church built, on the left. On either side of the apse are the two larger than life statues of John the Evangelist and John the Baptist . They are the secondary patrons of the monastery and were created in 1781 by Johann Schnegg vom Imsterberg .
In the apse is the high altar, which Andrea Filippini transferred to Gries in 1779 from the church of the abolished Dominican monastery of San Lorenzo in Trento . The high altar picture again comes from Martin Knoller from 1776. It represents St. Augustine in ecstatic contemplation of the triune God , with an angel carrying up his heart, kindled in love of God. Originally Knoller had painted the Trinity as a luminous triangular symbol, but in 1802, at the request of the pen, overpainted it with an anthropomorphic representation of the Trinity.
The presbytery measures 12 × 13.8 m. It is 10.5 m high to the height of the cornice and another 10.5 m from here to the top of the dome.
Sacristy and prayer choir
Behind the apse is the sacristy , which is accessible through the portals in both the nave and the presbytery. Here hangs a self-portrait of Martin Knoller from 1801. The cabinets with wood inlay from 1757 originally come from the sacristy of the pilgrimage site Maria Weißenstein and came to Gries in 1788 after its secularization.
Directly above the sacristy is the prayer room for the prayer of the hours of the monks, which was renovated in 1970. It is equipped with two-part choir stalls from 1721, which come from the Dominican Church in Bozen . The altarpiece depicting Jesus' Descent from the Cross was created in 1803 and is the last sacred work by Martin Knoller. The equipment also includes an organ with ten registers from 1971.
Bells
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The bell tower of the church and monastery is the former keep of the old Gries Castle, which the Counts of Tyrol built in the 13th century. In the 16th century, the bell chamber was placed on top of this, opening on all four sides through round arches. Here hang ten bells, including the Augustine bell from 1895 with the percussive sound as 0 , 2 meters in diameter and 5026 kg weight. The remaining bells were melted down for war purposes during World War I and replaced by new ones in 1922. The oldest bell in the monastery is the little bull bell from the 14th century. It still comes from the original monastery in the Au and is now kept in the monastery museum.
Library
Muri-Gries Abbey has its own monastery library and archive, which contains around 70,000 volumes.
Economic activities
The annexation of South Tyrol to Italy as a result of the First World War posed a particular challenge for the abbey , which for a short time even led to considerations after a retreat to Switzerland. However, the Convention was able to stabilize quickly under the new circumstances. In addition to the hospice in Muri, the abbey currently runs a winery , a gardening shop and a student residence (Haus St. Benedikt) in Gries. In addition, the Gries monastery still has a few hectares of orchards (apples). The college in Sarnen was handed over to the canton in 1984, and the boarding school belonging to it was closed in 2000. In place of the student residence in Gries there was a student residence until the 1990s.
Associated with Muri-Gries
In 1947 the musician, painter and poet Hortense von Gelmini was baptized in the abbey church .
literature
- Rupert Amschwand: Benedictine monastery Muri - Gries - Sarnen. 3. Edition. Gries Abbey, Bozen / Sarnen 1981.
- Nina Flurina Caprez: Threats in Peace Time . Muri-Gries - a Swiss monastery in South Tyrol after the First World War . Zurich: Chronos Verlag 2018. ISBN 978-3-0340-1489-2 .
- Bruno Meier : The Muri Monastery - History and Present of the Benedictine Abbey . here + now , Baden 2011, ISBN 978-3-03919-215-1 .
- Walter Landi: Stiftspfarrkirche Gries, Bozen . 4th, revised edition. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2009, ISBN 978-3-7954-6758-6 .
- Walter Landi, Plazidus Hungerbühler: The Augustinian Canons' Monastery Au-Gries in Bozen . In: Hannes Obermair et al. (Hrsg.): Cathedral and collegiate monasteries in the Tyrol - South Tyrol - Trentino region (= Schlern-Schriften 329). Innsbruck: Wagner 2006, ISBN 3703004037 .
- “ Dolomites ” special print 150 years of Muri Gries Monastery , June 1995. Editor, publisher and printing: Athesia GmbH Bozen
- Ambros Trafojer: The Gries Monastery. 2nd Edition. Self-published by Muri-Gries in 1982.
- Josef Weingartner : The art monuments Bolzano . Vienna-Augsburg: Hölzel 1926, p. 201 ff. (Online)
Web links
- Site of the Muri-Gries Abbey
- Entry in the monument browser on the website of the South Tyrolean Monuments Office
- Library of the Benedictine Abbey of Muri-Gries
Individual evidence
- ^ Franz Huter : Tyrolean document book . Dept. I, Vol. 1, Innsbruck 1937, No. 311 and 336.
- ↑ a b Meier: The Muri Monastery. P. 123.
- ^ History of the Muri-Gries Abbey
- ↑ Meier: The Muri Monastery. P. 107.
- ↑ Meier: The Muri Monastery. P. 122.
- ↑ Meier: The Muri Monastery. P. 126.
- ↑ Angelika Pedron, Klara Tutzer: The library of the Muri-Gries monastery - La biblioteca del convento di Muri-Gries. (Development of historical libraries in South Tyrol 8). Brixen: Provinz-Verlag 2011. ISBN 978-88-88118-72-7
- ^ Nina F. Caprez: Economic Hurdles after the Great War: How the South Tyrol-based Swiss Monastery Muri-Gries Overcame an Existential Crisis . In: Georg Grote , Hannes Obermair (Ed.): A Land on the Threshold. South Tyrolean Transformations, 1915-2015 . Peter Lang, Oxford-Bern-New York 2017, ISBN 978-3-0343-2240-9 , pp. 41-51 .
Coordinates: 46 ° 30 ′ 11.6 ″ N , 11 ° 20 ′ 6.1 ″ E