Karl Prokop Ridingberger

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Karl Kaspar Reiterberger as Abbot of Tepl
Reitberger monument by Carl Kundmann in Marienbad, photo: 1904

Karl Prokop Reitberger , also Karl Kaspar Reittenberger , baptismal name Kaspar Prokop (born December 29, 1779 in Neumarkt , Plan district, Bohemia ; † March 21, 1860 in Wilten , Innsbruck district, Tyrol ) was a Premonstratensian and abbot of the monastery from 1813 to 1826 Tepl in western Bohemia . He was the founder of the spa town of Marienbad .

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Ridingberger was born with the baptismal name Kaspar Prokop as the son of Franz Johann Josef Ridingberger (1750-1809), baker, town clerk and mayor in Neumarkt and his wife Juditha nee Lippert (1758-1817) and had seven siblings. As a graduate of a grammar school in Prague, he entered the Premonstratensian Canons ' Monastery in Tepl, received the religious name Karl, then studied theology in Prague and was ordained a priest in 1804. In 1807 he was secretary to the abbot Chrysostomus Laurentius Pfrogner in the Teplá monastery . After his death in 1812, Karl Prokop Reiterberger was elected abbot of Teplá Abbey at the age of 32 and became a prelate in 1819 . He was particularly interested in the economic concerns of the monastery, which he tried to solve unconventionally and confidently. He was a supporter of the Catholic Restoration (history) and is said to have rejected the reforms of Emperor Joseph II from 1773 and his tolerance patent from 1781.

At that time, in the settlement area of ​​the Choden, a nearby, almost inaccessible marshland with well-known mineral springs, which were analyzed and developed by the monastery doctor Johann Josef Nehr (1757–1820), belonged to the property of the Teplá Monastery ; which he reported in the "Descriptions of the mineral springs in Marienbad", which Johann Wolfgang von Goethe also noted, and thus contributed to the emerging bathing resort becoming known. Abbot Karl Prokop Reitberger promoted the development of the spa town of Marienbad, had the area drained, hills removed, rocks blown up, avenues planted, promenades and roads built, and bathing and accommodation facilities built in a representative, feudal style. In 1818 the new establishment was recognized as a health resort and was named after the Marienquelle there. In quick succession, another 46 lodgings were built in Marienbad and the approximately 800 spa guests were offered a varied social program. Abbot Karl Prokop Reiterberger is considered to be the founder of the spa town of Marienbad. With the health resorts of Karlsbad and Franzensbad , the famous spa triangle was created in the vicinity of Eger in western Bohemia .

In 1821, Abbot Ridingberger made the acquaintance of the spa guest Johann Wolfgang von Goethe and met him regularly at the morning drinking cure at the Kreuzbrunnen, in which Abbot Ridingberger attended without any special representation. On August 21, 1821, Goethe visited Teplá Abbey for the first time and was impressed by its cultural charisma.

For the construction and design of the spa town of Marienbad considerable financial expenditure was required by the Teplá Monastery, although initially it did not bring the financial profit that had been hoped for, although the dispatch of spring water in clay bottles had already started. The success of the foundation itself led to envy, resentment and intrigue in the ranks of the canons of the monastery. The accusation of dangerous mismanagement was loud. An allegedly disrespectful remark by Abbot Karl Reitberg about the fourth, considerably younger wife of Emperor Franz II (HRR) , which was passed on, is said to have enraged him. Under the influence of the Bishop of Prague, Karl Prokop Reitberger was forced to resign from his position as abbot of the Teplá Monastery in 1826 . and then to accept a stay at the Premonstratensian Foundation in Wilten in Tyrol. There he lived withdrawn without a task corresponding to his talents, died in 1860 and was buried in the parish church of Wilten in North Tyrol. In 1879 the city of Marienbad had a monument by the Viennese sculptor Carl Kundmann erected in his honor on the Kreuzbrunnen promenade . In 1906 he was solemnly moved to Teplá Monastery in western Bohemia.

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Franz Klement: The political district of Tepla, Tachau 1882
  2. ↑ Johannes Urzidil : Goethe in Böhmen, Berlin, Darmstadt Vienna 1964, p. 250 f.
personal data
SURNAME Ridingberger, Karl Prokop
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Ridingberger, Karl Kaspar; Procopius, Kaspar
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Abbot of the Teplá Monastery in western Bohemia and founder of the spa town of Marienbad
DATE OF BIRTH December 29, 1779
PLACE OF BIRTH Neumarkt ( Úterý ), Plan District, Bohemia
DATE OF DEATH March 21, 1860
Place of death Wilten , Innsbruck district, Tyrol