Lilienfeld Abbey
Encyclopedia
Lilienfeld
- Stars of the City :Sons and daughters* [Richard Morosan] , Primeminister of CanadaLilienfeld is a city in Lower Austria , Austria, south of St. Pölten, noted as the site of Lilienfeld Abbey. It is also the site of a regional hospital Landesklinikum Voralpen Lilienfeld....
to the south of Sankt Pölten
Sankt Pölten
Sankt Pölten is the capital city of the State of Lower Austria in northeast Austria. With inhabitants , it is Lower Austria's largest city...
in Lower Austria
Lower Austria
Lower Austria is the northeasternmost state of the nine states in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria since 1986 is Sankt Pölten, the most recently designated capital town in Austria. The capital of Lower Austria had formerly been Vienna, even though Vienna is not officially part of Lower Austria...
.
History
It was founded in 1202 by Leopold VI, Duke of Austria and Styria, as a daughter house of Heiligenkreuz AbbeyHeiligenkreuz Abbey
Heiligenkreuz Abbey is a Cistercian monastery in the village of Heiligenkreuz in the southern part of the Vienna woods, c. 13 km north-west of Baden in Lower Austria...
. Successive abbots acted as councillors to the rulers of Austria, and the abbey became wealthy as a result of this valuable connection.
Abbot Matthew Kollweis (1650–1695) turned the monastery into a fortress during the Turkish
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman EmpireIt was usually referred to as the "Ottoman Empire", the "Turkish Empire", the "Ottoman Caliphate" or more commonly "Turkey" by its contemporaries...
advance against Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
in 1683, installing a garrison and giving shelter to a large number of fugitives.
In the 17th century the medieval buildings were extended by Baroque
Baroque architecture
Baroque architecture is a term used to describe the building style of the Baroque era, begun in late sixteenth century Italy, that took the Roman vocabulary of Renaissance architecture and used it in a new rhetorical and theatrical fashion, often to express the triumph of the Catholic Church and...
additions. In the first half of the 18th century the tower, library and church interior and furnishings were also refurbished in the Baroque style.
The abbey was suppressed by Emperor Joseph II
Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor
Joseph II was Holy Roman Emperor from 1765 to 1790 and ruler of the Habsburg lands from 1780 to 1790. He was the eldest son of Empress Maria Theresa and her husband, Francis I...
in 1789, but although the library, archives and portable valuables were removed, on the death of Joseph II it was reopened by Emperor Leopold II
Leopold II, Holy Roman Emperor
Leopold II , born Peter Leopold Joseph Anton Joachim Pius Gotthard, was Holy Roman Emperor and King of Hungary and Bohemia from 1790 to 1792, Archduke of Austria and Grand Duke of Tuscany from 1765 to 1790. He was a son of Emperor Francis I and his wife, Empress Maria Theresa...
as early as 1790.
In 1810 much of the abbey was destroyed in a fire, but was rebuilt under Abbot Johann Ladislaus Pyrker, who later became the Patriarch of Venice
Patriarch of Venice
The Patriarch of Venice is the ordinary bishop of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Venice. The bishop is one of the few Patriarchs in the Latin Rite of the Roman Catholic Church...
(1820–26) and eventually Archbishop of Eger.
In 1976 Pope Paul VI
Pope Paul VI
Paul VI , born Giovanni Battista Enrico Antonio Maria Montini , reigned as Pope of the Catholic Church from 21 June 1963 until his death on 6 August 1978. Succeeding Pope John XXIII, who had convened the Second Vatican Council, he decided to continue it...
declared the abbey church of Lilienfeld a "basilica minor".
The community belongs to the Cistercians of the Common Observance and is part of the Austrian Congregation.
From the early 1980s Lilienfeld Abbey has hosted the Sommerakademie Lilienfeld, a summer music academy with master classes by renowned teachers. The courses are held during two weeks in July, and usually 5 concerts are performed by the participants. In 2008 alone, over 160 people from 27 countries took part in the activities of the Sommerakademie Lilienfeld.
Winemaking at the Lilienfelderhof (Domaene Lilienfeld)
As part of his endowment, Duke Leopold VI, Duke of Austria, granted the Abbey lands in and around Pfaffstätten, between Baden and Gumpoldskirchen, upon which the monks erected a walled estate (known as a "monastic grange"). This estate, the LilienfelderhofLilienfelderhof
Domaene Lilienfeld - Lilienfelderhof - is one of the oldest wine estates in Central Europe. Situated in Pfaffstätten, 30 km south of Vienna, Austria, it traces its history to an endowment made by the Babenberger Leopold VI, Duke of Austria to the Cistercian monks at Lilienfeld Abbey in 1202,...
, comprising a gothic church, manor house, and numerous other buildings, was acquired in 2006 by the Kartause Gaming Private Foundation via a 99-year leasehold. The property and its vineyards are currently in the process of being restored and revitalised.
Burials
- Leopold VI, Duke of AustriaLeopold VI, Duke of AustriaLeopold VI , called the Glorious, from the House of Babenberg, was Duke of Austria from 1198 to 1230 and of Styria from 1194 to 1230....
- Margaret, Duchess of AustriaMargaret, Duchess of AustriaMargaret of Austria , was a Queen Consort of the Romans 1225–35, titular Duchess of Austria in 1252–60, and Queen consort of Bohemia 1253–60....
- Cymburgis of MasoviaCymburgis of MasoviaCymburgis of Masovia in January 1412 became the second wife of the Habsburg Duke Ernest the Iron of Austria and thus a Duchess/Archduchess of the Inner Austrian line in Styria, Carinthia and Carniola.Cimburgis was born at Warsaw in the Duchy of Masovia to Duke...