Pen grips

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West facade with portal of the former collegiate church Griffen
Pen handles today
Baroque east facade of the monastery in need of restoration

The former Premonstratensian Choir Monastery of St. Maria in Griffental , or Stift Griffen for short , is located west of Markt Griffen in Carinthia . It consists of a Romanesque collegiate church, the baroque collegiate buildings adjoining to the northwest and is surrounded by a high, Gothic defensive wall. The construction of the monastery in the first half of the 13th century had a major impact on the development of the region and the market in Griffen.

history

In 1236, Bishop Eckbert von Bamberg decided to found a monastery at the old parish church in Oberndorf, whose canons were appointed from the Vessra monastery in Thuringia. This monastery was the only Premonstratensian monastery in Carinthia and it remained the only Premonstratensian settlement in Inner Austria. The members of the Premonstratensian Order are also called Norbertines (after their founder Norbert von Xanten ), the majority of them are priests with striking white costumes and concentrate above all on pastoral care and common prayer. During the founding period, they were also known for their strict discipline (silence, manual labor and strict fasting (renouncing the consumption of meat)). In 1237 the possessions of the new monastery, which consisted of "26 Huben, three vineyards near Wolfsberg including two gardens, a forest near the monastery and a Schwaige on the Saualpe", were given by Pope Gregory IX. approved. In 1272 the monastery and the new collegiate church Maria in Haslach (Maria Himmelfahrt) were completed and consecrated by the bishop Herbert von Lavant .

At the beginning of the 16th century, the churchyard and monastery built a joint fortification with loopholes and a battlement (remnants of which are still preserved today) in order to protect the monastery and the buildings belonging to it from any Turkish invasions (in the years 1473 to 1483 Carinthia was five times from attacked the Turks, who did not shrink from churches, which were often used as places of refuge by the population). In 1648 a fire destroyed, among other things, the inn, the horse stable and parts of the actual monastery. In 1750, a fire in a stove started a chimney fire that set fire to the roof and burned down the pen, along with important papers and documents.

In 1786 the monastery was closed by Joseph II , mainly for economic reasons (the fire a few years earlier led to renewed debt) and the monastery church became the parish church.

Today there is an exhibition on the life and work of Peter Handke on the first floor of the monastery .

Worth seeing

Monastery building

Richly decorated cloister portal depicting St. Norbert , founder of the Premonstratensian Order. The stucco ceiling in the former refectory from the first half of the 18th century, ascribed to Kilian Pittner, shows a. a. symbolic representations of the rules of the order.

  • Cloister portal

  • Statue of St. Norbert above the cloister portal

  • Cloister. Romanesque representation of the Magi

Collegiate Church of the Assumption of Mary

Interior view of the collegiate church with high altar

This late Romanesque three-aisled pillar basilica was originally located outside the former fortified churchyard wall, but its facade cut into the northeastern part of the churchyard wall. The first written mention of it comes from the year 1272. After the fire of 1648 there were decisive changes, but the interior remained Romanesque. In the baroque high altar stands a late Gothic stone Madonna, with Saints Augustine and Norbert on both sides . There are statuettes of the church fathers on the basket of the baroque pulpit; the sound cover shows rich figural decorations. The numerous gravestones and coat of arms stones on the walls and pillars are worth mentioning (e.g. Herr von Weissenegg, died 1498; Friedrich Ritter von Völkermarkt, died 1358; Provost Heinrich II. Quirill, died 1537) and the ceiling paintings. A side chapel opens from the right aisle with a light-flooded dome over a baroque altar of Mary.

  • Collegiate Church, floor plan

  • West facade of the collegiate church with portal

  • The baroque pulpit

  • Right aisle with altar

  • View into the side chapel with the baroque altar of Mary

Old parish church

Old parish church

The old parish church now forms the center of the cemetery and is located in the middle of the former churchyard. This church was mentioned for the first time in 1235 as the seat of a provost's office. This church is a Romanesque building from the first half of the 13th century, which was expanded and changed in the Gothic and Baroque periods . In the 60s of the 20th century, wall paintings from the time the church was founded were uncovered in the walls of the chancel, depicting Heinrich II and his wife Kunigunde .

  • Old parish church, Romanesque portal

  • Old parish church, Gothic wall painting: Madonna in protective cloak

  • Old parish church, late Gothic reliefs: Crucifixion and Lamentation of Christ

  • Old parish church, interior

Arbor construction ("Mönchshäusl")

This building is located northwest of the monastery and was built by Provost Rupert in 1689 as a garden and pleasure house, where the provost retired to enjoy the view of the monastery, the market and Griffen Castle.

literature

  • Wilhelm Deuer: Jauntal cultural hikes. An art-historical companion through the Völkermarkt district. Klagenfurt 2001
  • Ulrich Faust: The monastic landscape of Carinthia . In: Johannes Grabmayer (Red.): Treasury of Carinthia. State exhibition St. Paul 1991. 900 years of the Benedictine monastery - contributions . Klagenfurt 1991, pp. 35-41
  • Engelbert Kirchheim: "How the unbelievers vastly corrupt the land" In: Johannes Grabmayer (Red.): Treasury of Carinthia. State exhibition St. Paul 1991. 900 years of the Benedictine monastery - contributions . Klagenfurt 1991, pp. 117-124
  • Günther Körner: Grasping in the mirror of his past. A brief history of Burg and Markt Griffen up to 1759. Klagenfurt 1969
  • Günther Körner: A historical review. In: WIESER Christian (ed.): Schlossberg Griffen. Biodiversity Fortress. Robber barons, demons & feather spirits. Klagenfurt 2005, pp. 27-48
  • Anton Kreuzer: The monasteries and monasteries of Carinthia . Klagenfurt 1986
  • Matthias Lapeller (ed.): Churches, monasteries and culture. Meeting rooms in Carinthia. Klagenfurt 2001
  • Franz Mehling (Hrsg.): Knaur's cultural guide in color. Austria . Munich / Zurich 1977
  • Gabriele Russwurm-Biró (ed.): The art monuments of Austria. Carinthia (= Dehio-Handbuch. The art monuments of Austria). 3rd enlarged and improved edition. Vienna 2001
  • Evelyne Webernig (among others): History of Griffen (= exhibition catalog of the Carinthian State Archives, 15). Klagenfurt 2005
  • Adam Wolf: The abolition of the monasteries in Inner Austria 1782-1790. A contribution to the history of Emperor Joseph II . Vienna 1871.

Individual evidence

  1. ^ FAUST Ulrich : The monastery landscape of Carinthia. In: GRABMAYER Johannes (Red.): Treasury of Carinthia. State exhibition St. Paul 1991. 900 years of the Benedictine monastery - contributions. Klagenfurt 1991, pp. 35–41, here p. 41.
  2. ↑ Martin Aigner: Castle side. Building descriptions and plans of Austrian castles and castle ruins. http://www.burgseite.com/ls/scharte_txt.htm
  3. ↑ Bundesdenkmalamt, www.bda.at/text/136/1005/5225/Stift-Griffen_Kaernten-Gemeinde-Griffen-Polit-Bez-Voelkermarkt

Web links

Commons : Pen Grips  - Collection of images, videos, and audio files

Coordinates: 46 ° 41 ′ 54.8 "  N , 14 ° 42 ′ 11.8"  E