Viktring Abbey
Encyclopedia
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
n state of Carinthia
Carinthia (state)
Carinthia is the southernmost Austrian state or Land. Situated within the Eastern Alps it is chiefly noted for its mountains and lakes.The main language is German. Its regional dialects belong to the Southern Austro-Bavarian group...
. Stift Viktring is now the name of the Roman Catholic parish in Viktring, since 1973 a district of the Carinthian capital Klagenfurt
Klagenfurt
-Name:Carinthia's eminent linguists Primus Lessiak and Eberhard Kranzmayer assumed that the city's name, which literally translates as "ford of lament" or "ford of complaints", had something to do with the superstitious thought that fateful fairies or demons tend to live around treacherous waters...
.
History
Viktring Abbey was established in 1142 by Cistercian monks from Villers-Bettnach AbbeyVillers-Bettnach Abbey
Villers-Bettnach Abbey is a former Cistercian abbey in the commune of Saint-Hubert in the Moselle department, France. The monastery site is about 22 kilometres north-east of Metz, in the valley of the little River Canner, and was classed as a monument historique on 28 March 1905.- History :In...
in the Duchy of Lorraine (in the modern Saint-Hubert
Saint-Hubert, Moselle
Saint-Hubert is a commune in the Moselle department in Lorraine in north-eastern France.-Rabas:Rabas is neither a village nor a hamlet, but an area located between the hamlet of Befey and the village of Saint-Hubert .As the legend says: "Charlemagne and group of hunters was following a deer in the...
), of the filiation of Morimond
Morimond Abbey
Morimond Abbeyis a religious complex in Parnoy-en-Bassigny, Haute-Marne department, in the Champagne-Ardenne region of France. It was the fourth of the four great daughter abbeys of Cîteaux Abbey, of primary importance in the spread of the Cistercian Order, along with La Ferté to the south,...
. Its lands were probably a gift of Count Bernhard of Spanheim
House of Sponheim
The House of Sponheim or Spanheim was a noble family of the Holy Roman Empire in the High Middle Ages. They were Dukes of Carinthia from 1122 until 1269 and Counts of Sponheim until 1437...
-Marburg (Maribor
Maribor
Maribor is the second largest city in Slovenia with 157,947 inhabitants . Maribor is also the largest and the capital city of Slovenian region Lower Styria and the seat of the Municipality of Maribor....
), brother of Duke Engelbert of Carinthia
Engelbert, Duke of Carinthia
Engelbert II from the House of Sponheim was Margrave of Istria and Carniola from sometime between 1101 and 1107 until 1124...
, and his wife Kunigunde, daughter of Margrave Ottokar II of Styria
Ottokar II of Styria
Ottokar II was Margrave of Styria. He was the son of Ottokar I and grandfather of Ottokar III, from the dynasty of the Otakars...
. As early as 13 May in the following year the first abbot, Eberhard, was consecrated. The abbey church was dedicated 60 years later by Eberhard of Regensburg, Archbishop of Salzburg
Archbishopric of Salzburg
The Archbishopric of Salzburg was an ecclesiastical State of the Holy Roman Empire, its territory roughly congruent with the present-day Austrian state of Salzburg....
, in 1202.
In 1234 the Carinthian duke Bernhard von Spanheim
Bernhard von Spanheim
Bernhard von Spanheim was Duke of Carinthia for 54 years from 1202 until his death.-Family:...
founded Landstrass Abbey, latterly also known as Kostanjevica Abbey, a daughter house of Viktring in the March of Carniola
March of Carniola
The March of Carniola was a southeastern state of the Holy Roman Empire in the High Middle Ages, the predecessor of the Duchy of Carniola. It corresponded roughly to the central Carniolan region of present-day Slovenia...
, in the modern Kostanjevica
Kostanjevica na Krki
Kostanjevica na Krki, also Kostanjevica ob Krki , is a small town and a municipality in the historic Lower Carniola region of southern Slovenia. It is today part of the Lower Sava statistical region....
in Slovenia
Slovenia
Slovenia , officially the Republic of Slovenia , is a country in Central and Southeastern Europe touching the Alps and bordering the Mediterranean. Slovenia borders Italy to the west, Croatia to the south and east, Hungary to the northeast, and Austria to the north, and also has a small portion of...
.
The most notable abbot was the chronicler John of Viktring
John of Viktring
John of Viktring was a late medieval chronicler and political advisor to the rulers of Carinthia. He is also known as Johannes Victorensis, Johannes de Victoria, John of Victring, Johann von Viktring, or Joannes Victoriensis. In Slovene he is called Janez Vetrinjski.Nothing is known of John's...
, confidant of Duke Henry of Bohemia, who assumed his office in 1312. Under Abbot Johannes II in 1411 the greater part of Viktring Abbey burnt down. Vigorous re-building in the abbey and the parishes belonging to it was however made possible by decree of the Cistercian General Chapter. In 1447 the German king Frederick III of Habsburg
Frederick III, Holy Roman Emperor
Frederick the Peaceful KG was Duke of Austria as Frederick V from 1424, the successor of Albert II as German King as Frederick IV from 1440, and Holy Roman Emperor as Frederick III from 1452...
presented the abbey church with an altar.
Viktring Abbey was dissolved during the rationalist reforms
Josephinism
Josephinism is the term used to describe the domestic policies of Joseph II, Holy Roman Emperor . During the ten years in which Joseph was the sole ruler of the Habsburg Monarchy , he attempted to legislate a series of drastic reforms to remodel Austria in the form of the ideal Enlightened state...
of 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...
by decree of 19 May 1786. The parish of Stift Viktring retained possession only of the church and the former priest's house. The altar was removed to St. Bernard's Abbey in Wiener Neustadt
Wiener Neustadt
-Main sights:* The Late-Romanesque Dom, consecrated in 1279 and cathedral from 1469 to 1785. The choir and transept, in Gothic style, are from the 14th century. In the late 15th century 12 statues of the Apostles were added in the apse, while the bust of Cardinal Melchior Klesl is attributed to...
, and when that was merged into Heiligenkreuz Abbey
Heiligenkreuz 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...
in 1885, sold to St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna, where it is to be seen opposite Emperor Frederick's tomb.
Moro Brothers textile factory
Part of the premises and lands were bought at auction on 10 November 1788 by the brothers Johann and Christoph Moro, who set up a textile factory here. In 1796 they succeeded in acquiring a long lease of the lordship of Viktring. The rise of the firm "Gebrüder Moro" was spectacular; in 1816 the AustrianAustrian Empire
The Austrian Empire was a modern era successor empire, which was centered on what is today's Austria and which officially lasted from 1804 to 1867. It was followed by the Empire of Austria-Hungary, whose proclamation was a diplomatic move that elevated Hungary's status within the Austrian Empire...
Emperor Francis I of Habsburg
Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor
Francis II was the last Holy Roman Emperor, ruling from 1792 until 6 August 1806, when he dissolved the Empire after the disastrous defeat of the Third Coalition by Napoleon at the Battle of Austerlitz...
visited the factory with his wife Caroline Augusta of Bavaria
Caroline Augusta of Bavaria
Caroline Augusta of Bavaria was a daughter of Maximilian I Joseph, King of Bavaria and his wife, Augusta Wilhelmine of Hesse-Darmstadt , and a member of the House of Wittelsbach. She was married to Crown Prince William of Württemberg and to Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor...
. The firm painstakingly cultivated its connections to the Imperial family, and received further visits in 1850 and 1852 from Emperor Franz Joseph
Franz Joseph I of Austria
Franz Joseph I or Francis Joseph I was Emperor of Austria, King of Bohemia, King of Croatia, Apostolic King of Hungary, King of Galicia and Lodomeria and Grand Duke of Cracow from 1848 until his death in 1916.In the December of 1848, Emperor Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated the throne as part of...
.
By 1897 the Moro family had acquired the entire monastery and its rights. In 1925 Adeline von Botka, the last surviving member of the family, sold the textile factory "Gebrüder Moro" to Baron Josef Aichelburg-Zosenegg. In 1942 he committed suicide, and the company was taken over by the "Hamburger Aero-Maschinen- und Werkzeugfabrik". In 1956 the Reichmann company acquired the concern, but went out of business ten years later.
In 1970 the Austrian government bought the buildings and set up a secondary school here in 1977, which in 1980 became independent as the "Realgymnasium unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der musischen Ausbildung". On 23 September 1999 the official opening of the BRG Klagenfurt-Viktring
BRG Klagenfurt-Viktring
The BRG Klagenfurt-Viktring is in 13th district of Klagenfurt . Emphasis is placed on the musical education and in art education. In addition, there is also a branch with emphasis on science, this branch is also accessible to children whose residence lies outside of the 13th district of...
, well-known for its specialisation in musical education, took place.