Ottobeuren monastery

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Ottobeuren Benedictine Abbey
Banner of the Holy Roman Emperor with haloes (1400-1806) .svg
Territory in the Holy Roman Empire
Imperial Abbey Ottobeuren
coat of arms
Ottobeuren.png
map
Imperial City of Memmingen Territory, Hase 1742.png
Territory of the Imperial Abbey of Ottobeuren (right - light yellow) (map from 1742)
Location in the Reichskreis
Totius SRI Circuli Suevici Tabula Chorographica.jpg (around 1700)
Alternative names Reichsstift
Arose from ordinary abbey ; Imperial monastery;
Form of rule Elective monarchy
Ruler / government Abbot ; Reich Abbot
Today's region / s DE-BY
Parliament From 1299 to the beginning of the 15th century, imperial prince; since 1624 member of the Imperial Council of Princes , but without a seat and vote in the Swabian Imperial Prelate College
Reich register 972 Liberation of the abbey from all imperial burdens by Emperor Otto I.
Reichskreis Swabian Empire
District council without a seat and voice
Capitals / residences Ottobeuren
Denomination / Religions Roman Catholic
Language / n German , Latin
surface 3.3 square miles
Residents 12,000 inhabitants (around 1800)
Incorporated into 1802/03 to the Electorate of Bavaria


The Ottobeuren Monastery (Latin Abbatia Ottoburana ) is a Benedictine abbey in Ottobeuren in Upper Swabia . The building complex, also known as the "Swabian Escorial ", is located in the Diocese of Augsburg . The abbey belongs to the Bavarian Benedictine Congregation .

history

Basilica and monastery during the renovation work started in 2004
East tower of the basilica, 2007

The monastery, consecrated to the two saints Alexander of Rome and Theodor Tiro , was founded in 764 by Silach, an Alemannic nobleman, and in 972 made an imperial abbey by Emperor Otto I.

Temporarily subordinated to the Bishop of Augsburg , the heyday of the monastic community began in the age of church reform. Abbot Adalbert (1050-1069) became the head of the monastery in St. Emmeram in Regensburg, the monastery of Wilhelm von Hirsau (1069-1091), the monastery reform in Ottobeuren started with St. Blasien, with Abbot Rupert I (1102-1145) then the Hirsau-Georgener reform in Ottobeuren. The monastery reform then shone from Ottobeuren to Ellwangen and Marienberg (in South Tyrol), the latter being a new foundation that received five Ottobeuren professes one after the other as abbots.

Ottobeuren himself came into closer contact with the Pope and royalty in the course of the 12th century. In the 13th century the monastery developed into an imperial abbey , which was confirmed by the imperial court in 1624 . The territory of the monastery also included 27 villages in the surrounding area. The subordination of Ottobeuren to the rule of the Augsburg bishop and internal decline made the monastery difficult to create in the late Middle Ages.

Interior view of the basilica, 2009
Ceiling fresco in the basilica, 2009
Tomb slabs of deceased abbots in the north nave of the basilica, 2009

The Reformation passed Ottobeuren by, the mighty baroque monastery complex with the monastery church, one of the main works of the European baroque, shows the economic importance of the monastery.

The monastery was dissolved in 1802 in the course of secularization . Eighteen of the original forty-eight monks were able to stay in Ottobeuren. In 1835 the monastery was rebuilt as a priory of the St. Stephan Abbey in Augsburg , and in 1918 it became an independent abbey again.

From January 1945 until the end of the Second World War, Georg Schreiber stayed in the Ottobeuren monastery.

From 1946 to 1975 the monastery ran a Progymnasium (5th to 10th grade) in its rooms in the form of a boys' boarding school: the Collegium Rupertinum.

Basilica of St. Alexander and St. Theodore

The late Baroque basilica was built as a monastery church from 1737–1766 by Simpert Kraemer (until 1748) and Johann Michael Fischer and is consecrated to St. Alexander and St. Theodore . The building took place during the reign of Abbots Rupert Neß and Anselm Erb . The rich furnishings include frescoed dome and ceilings as well as altarpieces by cousins Johann Jakob and Franz Anton Zeiller from Tyrol, stucco figures by Johann Joseph Christian , stucco work by Johann Michael Feuchtmayer the Younger . The two widely famous baroque choir organs by Karl Joseph Riepp are almost unchanged : the four-manual Trinity organ with 47  registers and the two-manual Heiliggeistorgel with 27 registers, both with a French sound. The builder also ran a wine trade in Dijon (Burgundy), among other places. The choir stalls were made by Martin Hermann (carpentry) and Johann Joseph Christian (reliefs) and are considered to be one of the most beautiful of the southern German Baroque. The center of the church is a Romanesque crucifix (around 1220). The unusual north-south orientation of the church is due to its location within the overall complex, whose floor plan is in the shape of a cross. In 1926 the monastery church was opened by Pope Pius XI. raised to the papal basilica .

Monastery building

Ottobeuren monastery Kaisersaal

The entire system is a square of 142 by 128 m, or 33 to 29 window axes. The baroque monastery buildings are partly accessible as part of the monastery museum . The rich furnishings of the representative imperial hall and other halls demonstrate the material wealth, political power and the associated need for representation of the imperial abbey ; the intimate theater hall is a testimony to Ottobeuren's cultural heyday during the baroque era .

The monastery library , whose origins date back to the time the monastery was founded , is particularly important . Rebuilt in the 18th century, it is an important part of the total work of art of the monastery architecture with the magnificent ceiling paintings by Elias Zobel , the stucco ceilings by Johann Baptist Zimmermann and the homogeneous baroque interior. In addition to many medieval manuscripts , hundreds of incunabula and early prints, the library contains around 15,000 pigskin bound tomes .

Events

Since 1945, at the suggestion of Ernst Fritz Schmid, classical concerts in the Ottobeurer Concerts series have been held in the monastery church and in the Kaisersaal , some with world-famous conductors such as Herbert von Karajan and Leonard Bernstein . Until 2014, an organ concert on the famous Riepp organs and the large St. Mary's organ took place in the basilica from May to October every Saturday afternoon at 4 p.m. The concerts were initiated by the organist Adalbert Meier from Memmingen as a benefit concerts in favor of the German Leper Aid Organization ( DAHW ). In the past 45 years, around 3 million euros in donations have been raised. Organ concerts have been held on selected Saturdays since 2015, organized by the parish of St. Alexander and Theodor Ottobeuren. Admission to most of the concerts is free, but we ask for a voluntary donation for the preservation of the organs.

Abbots of Ottobeuren

(Between 1835 and 1918 the superior of Ottobeuren was only a prior )

Figure of the Archangel Michael in the monastery, 2008
  • Toto (764-814)
  • Milo (814-864)
  • Neodegar (864-869)
  • Witgar (869-902)
  • Birtilo (902-941)
  • Adalbero (941-972)
  • Ulrich von Augsburg (972–973)
  • Rudung (973-1000)
  • Dangolf (1000-1012)
  • Sigibert (1012-1028)
  • Embricho (1028-1050)
  • Eberhard (1050-1069)
  • Razelin (1069-1082)
  • Adalhelm (1082-1094)
  • Gebhard (1094–1100)
  • Henry I (1100–1102)
  • Rupert I of St. Georgen (1102–1145)
  • Isingrim (1145-1180)
  • Bernold (1180-1194)
  • Conrad I (1194-1227)
  • Berthold I (1227-1246)
  • Walther (1246–1252)
  • Henry II (1252–1258)
  • Siegfried (1258-1266)
  • Henry III. of Bregenz (1266–1296)
  • Conrad II (1296-1312)
  • Henry IV (1312-1322)
  • Heinrich V of Nordholz (1322–1353)
  • Johann I of Altmannshofen (1353–1371)
  • Ulrich von Knöringen (1371-1378)
  • Johann II. Von Hocherer (1378-1390)
  • Henry VI. (1390-1399)
  • Johann III. von Affstetten (1399–1400)
  • Johann IV. Russinger (1400–1404)
  • Eggo Schwab (1404-1416)
  • Johann V. Schedler (1416–1443)
  • Jodok Niederhof (1443–1453)
  • Johann VI. Kraus (1453-1460)
  • Wilhelm von Lustenau (1460–1473)
  • Nikolaus Röslin (1473–1492)
  • Matthäus Ackermann (1492–1508)
  • Leonhard Wiedemann (1508–1546)
  • Kaspar Kindelmann (1547–1584)
  • Gallus Memminger (1584–1599)
  • Alexander Sauter (1600–1612)
  • Gregor Reubi (1612-1628)
  • Andreas Vogt (1628–1633)
  • Maurus Schmid (1633–1655)
  • Petrus Kimmicher (1656–1672)
  • Benedikt Hornstein (1672–1688)
  • Gordian Scherrich (1688-1710)
  • Rupert Neß (Rupert II .; 1710–1740)
  • Anselm Erb (1740–1767)
  • Honorat Göhl (1767–1802)
  • Paulus Alt (1802-1807)
  • Prior Barnabas Huber (1834-1851)
  • Prior Theodor Gangauf (1851-1859)
  • Prior Raphael Mertl (1859-1889)
  • Prior Eugen Gebele (1889–1903)
  • Prior Theobald Labhardt (1903-1915)
  • Prior (from 1918 abbot) Placidus Glogger (1915–1920)
  • Joseph Maria Einsiedler (1920–1947)
  • Vitalis Maier (1948–1986)
  • Vitalis Altthaler (1986-2002)
  • Paulus Maria Weigele (2002-2013)
  • Johannes Schaber (since 2013)

literature

  • Josef Hemmerle : The Benedictine monasteries in Bavaria . Winfried-Werk, Augsburg 1970, pp. 209-220 ( Germania Benedictina . Bayern 2).
  • Ulrich Faust : Ottobeuren Abbey. Historical overview 764 until today . 2nd Edition. Kunstverlag Josef Fink, Lindenberg 2007, ISBN 978-3-89870-189-1 .
  • Rupert Prusinovsky / Benediktinerabtei Ottobeuren (Ed.): Benediktinerabtei Ottobeuren. Basilica of St. Alexander and Theodore . 6 edition. Ottobeuren 2008.
  • Wolfgang Wüst: Environment and monastery - the hunting, forest and wood regulations from March 17, 1787 in Ottobeuren , in: Korbinian BIRNBACHER / Stephan HAERING (ed.), Germania Monastica. Festschrift for Ulrich Faust OSB on the occasion of his 80th birthday (StMGB - studies and communications on the history of the Benedictine order and its branches 126) St. Ottilien 2015, English abstract, pp. 373-390.
  • Abbot Johannes Schaber OSB (text and photos), “This place is holy” - The Benedictine Abbey Ottobeuren in pictures, 284 pages, 415 illustrations, format 23 × 27 cm, 1st edition 2019, Kunstverlag Josef Fink, ISBN 978-3- 89870-918-7 .

Web links

Deutsche Bundespost (1964) : 1200 anniversary
Commons : Ottobeuren Monastery  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Ottobeuren Monastery  - Sources and full texts

Coordinates: 47 ° 56 ′ 29 ″  N , 10 ° 17 ′ 53 ″  E