Säusenstein Abbey
| Säusenstein Abbey | |
|---|---|
 View of Säusenstein Abbey from the park |
|
| location |
 Austria
|
| Coordinates: | 48 ° 11 '30 " N , 15 ° 6' 53" E |
| Serial number according to Janauschek |
706 |
| founding year | 1334 |
| Year of dissolution / annulment |
1789 |
| Mother monastery | Wilhering Abbey |
| Primary Abbey | Morimond Monastery |
Säusenstein Abbey is a former abbey of Cistercian (OCist) on the right bank of the Danube in Säusenstein in the district of Melk in Lower Austria .
history
founding
The monastery was founded by Eberhard V. von Walsee and his wife Anna. Eberhard V. was governor and district judge of Austria ob der Enns (old name for Upper Austria ) and wanted "in view of the current, decrepit state of this world ... to transform the ephemeral into the eternal and to exchange the earthly for the heavenly" (foundation deed). For this reason he had tried for some time to found a monastery for 16 monks in "Vallis Dei" (Latin for God Valley). This place was popularly called Säusenstein . There is historical record of negotiations with the Augustinian hermits in 1333, but an incompatibility with the rules of the order prevented confirmation by the General Chapter . This point in time is also responsible for the founding year 1334, which is often used in literature (example: Dehio , Handbuch Niederösterreich, 1953 edition).
Eberhard then decided to hand over his foundation to the order of the Cistercians . First monks from Zwettl Abbey moved into the monastery, but for unknown reasons it did not get off to a successful start. According to the deed of foundation, on September 19, 1336, Eberhard legally subordinated the monastery together with numerous “movable and immovable goods” as a subsidiary to Wilhering Monastery . He also gave his promise to grant the monastery further financial donations and that he would "defend it against third-party claims and in all things".
The first abbot named Ulrich settled the Säusenstein monastery together with some monks around 1337 from the mother monastery Wilhering. The Bishop of Passau confirmed the foundation in 1344. The founder died on April 21, 1370 and was buried in the monastery church.
Rise and eventful history
In the years after the founding, instead of the apparently smaller founding church (stone ribs in the masonry) found on the rear facade, a new, large collegiate church was built and consecrated in 1341. The smaller founding church was converted into the chapter house of the monastery; Gothic frescoes still found in the cloister testify to this time. Among other things, the rich donations from the founder led to a rapid heyday of the monastery, and its reputation and importance increased.
After the death of the founder, the history of the monastery among the 41 abbots was very eventful. Devastation caused by the Turkish wars , looting by released soldiers, tough tax regulations and war taxes, disputes between the Reformation and Counter-Reformation, and the Thirty Years' War led the monastery to the brink of destruction several times.
As a result, the monastery and the surrounding area were badly affected. As a war tax in 1526, the monastery had to deliver half of all church valuables for war purposes. During the first Turkish siege of Vienna in the autumn of 1529 , individual hordes roamed around looting and violent, also to prevent the people from being armed: “On the day of Pentecost after Michaelis , the Turk came to Amstetten in 6000, knocked down everything they encountered; A lot of places, spots and villages were burned ”( Annales Styrenses ). People in Säusenstein were killed, kidnapped and houses set on fire. However, there was no longer siege of the monastery because the monastery was well prepared by Abbot Johannes. The most important documents and valuables had already been brought to Melk beforehand. Most of the possessions of the monastery in Tullnerfeld were destroyed. As a further war tax, the fourth part of the monastery property was also to be sold in the following years and the proceeds were to be delivered. Despite the sale of some of the goods, loans had to be taken out to pay the tax. The monastery had become poor, Abbot Johann was almost in custody because the monastery defaulted on payments .
During the Reformation , the social upheavals and general disorientation caused two abbots in Säusenstein Monastery to experience economic problems and a decline in spiritual life. One of the abbots even ran away with the monastery treasury.
Blooming and brisk construction activity
After the Reformation there was slowly an economic improvement in the conditions of the monastery and an increase in the number of monks. After a fire that damaged large parts of the monastery, lively building activity began in 1703 under the abbots Malachias I, Malachias II and Roman up to the last abbot Andreas Schrappeneder (1751–1788), which led to the largest expansion of the buildings of the Abbey and to today's (renovated) facade design. Abbot Andreas made it possible to study philosophy and theology in the monastery, so that the monastery also developed an active spiritual life to the outside world.
Abolition of the monastery (secularization)
Despite the blossoming, the lifting could no longer be stopped. The spirit of the French Enlightenment had seized the monarchs and led to Josephinism . In several steps, Emperor Joseph II worked on the redesign and dissolution of monasteries. As early as March 24, 1781, the Cistercians were prohibited from contacting the Abbot General and General Chapter as well as all foreign monasteries by ordinance, thus severing the order as a unit. Subsequently, the monasteries were subordinated to the state, many brothers were appointed as pastors outside the monastery, against the rule of the order periodic abbot elections were introduced and the new admission of novices was made dependent on a seldom granted approval. When Abbot Andreas died on May 3, 1788, the election of abbot was prohibited. Without an abbot, the monastery could no longer be represented legally or externally. The monastery was closed on May 21, 1789, and the abbot of Seitenstetten Abbey Ambros Rixner was appointed as administrator of the dissolution . On June 22nd, the remaining 19 monks were called together by a government commissioner and some officials and they were given the option to go to another monastery of their order or to convert to the world priesthood and take over a parish. With that the secularization was finished. Some of the furnishings, including the large ceiling and wall paintings of the summer refectory (dining room) came to Stift Seitenstetten, from where the goods were also administered, the monastery was subsequently incorporated into the religious fund.
Napoleon and the French Wars
In the Napoleonic Wars of 1796 to 1800, the baroque building served as a military hospital, among other things . In 1797 over 300 French prisoners of war were housed in the church and in the cloister , the dysentery broke out and many soldiers died. In the years 1800 and 1801 Napoleon's troops repeatedly came to Säusenstein in the course of the war , blackmailed the administrative officials of the former monastery, stole valuables and sold the facility. The church's valuables were also stolen, smashed, the church was desecrated by an orgy and the valuable organ was destroyed. They then hauled in straw and fuel and lit it in the church. The high altar caught fire and the roof structure above it. When people rushed to extinguish the fire, the soldiers drove them away. The church burned down completely except for one transverse wing. This was continued as the Loreto Chapel (renovated in 1917 after decades of neglect, today also called Theresienkapelle). Remains of the vaulted stone ribs of the church can still be seen on the south wall. In the wars of 1805 ( third coalition ) and 1809 ( fifth coalition ) Napoleon's troops came again, moved into the former monastery, blackmailed and mistreated the population and destroyed much.
Sale and decline
When the abbot of Seitenstetten Monastery died as administrator of the monastery in 1812, the rule of the monastery was taken over by the state in 1815 and sold to the highest bidder in 1825 as the Säusenstein religious fund rule. The Viennese homeowner Jakob Bernklau bought the monastery and, in the two years in which he owned the Säusenstein monastery, began to demolish parts and transport them away. Beautiful tombstones were smashed and used as paving stones for the cowshed and as wall stones. After only two years he sold the pen again and various bourgeois and noble people followed as owners. The popular name “ castle ” for the monastery, which is often used today in the local population, is likely to come from this time . The decline continued, the structure of the monastery got worse and worse. In 1856 part of the convent building adjacent to the church as well as the west wing were demolished during the construction of the Western Railway . Two wings of the cloister as well as the well room , which was important to the Cistercians , probably fell victim to this demolition . A corner tower of the monastery wall, the so-called “Prälatenstöckl”, was also separated from the monastery. The last private owners, the Edleditsch family, finally sold the pen to the German Empire . It was converted from 1939 to 1945 as an institute for grassland management, a research institute to increase crop yields, and planting tests were carried out on the remaining estates. After the Second World War , the monastery was located in the Soviet occupation zone and was used as a quarters for the occupying forces, conversions of the chapter house, a red star painted on the ceiling in the summer refectory and a welded safe bear witness to this time. After the occupying powers withdrew in 1955, the Austrian Federal Forests took over the monastery, as the remaining goods also contained some forest holdings. The monastery building was subsequently rented to families in the area, and the building itself was not looked after very much.
Revitalization
On May 25, 1979, the gallery owner, painter, author and Christian mystic Luise Wittmann (* December 3, 1902 - July 8, 2005 ) bought together with her son Karl, who worked in architecture (* May 6, 1928 , † December 26th 2004 ) the monastery building and the approximately 2 hectare park, also in order to have a parent house for her large circle of friends and artists as well as for her supernaturally founded community. At this time the building was in poor condition, the chimneys and the roof were in disrepair, the rich stucco of the summer refectory was badly damaged and the hall was used as a coal cellar. Various conversions inside had changed the character of the long corridors, the cloister and other beautiful rooms. A tiled stove from the Empire lay dismantled as a pile of rubble in the courtyard.
The two new owners began restoring and revitalizing the property immediately after the purchase . The summer refectory, historical rooms and parts of the facade were restored with great personal and financial commitment from the new owners, a few friends and artists, and occasional support from the Austrian Federal Monuments Office and the State of Lower Austria . Among other things, rare Gothic frescoes were discovered in the cloister in the basic colors of ocher , charcoal and brick red. On the outside of the house there were ribbed vaults of the founding church, which was later converted into a chapter house.
With numerous exhibitions with works by Luise Wittmann and artists from her circle of friends, readings and concerts, attempts were made to promote cultural values, to make them known and to open the house to visitors.
On May 13, 2004, Luise Wittmann and her son Karl handed the monastery over to their successor, who continued to run it, renovated and revitalized it in their interest.
Web links
- Homepage Säusenstein Abbey
- Collection: Säusenstein, Cistercian (1268-1780) in the European document archive Monasterium.net .
- Säusenstein Castle
- Entry via Säusenstein to Burgen-Austria
Individual evidence
- ↑ Alfred Eder fish-Meis Eder: The Gothic architecture in eastern Austria. Studies of sacred buildings in the 14th and 15th centuries with a focus on the period around 1400 . Vienna 2016, p. 75-78 .