Description of the attraction
Klosterneuburg Monastery is an Augustinian monastery in Lower Austria, on the banks of the Danube to the north of Vienna. The monastery was founded in 1114 by the Austrian Count Leopold III and his second wife Agnes. According to legend, Agnes lost her favorite scarf, which was torn from her neck and carried away by a gust of strong wind. Leopold found him a few years later, on a hunt. He claimed that the Virgin Mary had brought him to the right place. It was where the scarf was found that the abbey was founded. It is difficult to judge the reliability of such a beautiful legend, however, the scarf is still kept in the monastery museum. According to another legend, the monastery was built to atone for the sin of murder.
After his death, Leopold was buried in the abbey, in the crypt of the main church, the altar of which is decorated with many 12th century gilded tiles on biblical themes (by the master Nicholas of Verdun). The Speziosa Chapel was consecrated in 1222 and is the oldest Gothic structure in Austria.
Under Archduke Maximilian III, the abbey served as the country's crown "as a symbol of the unity of the Austrian hereditary lands." In the first half of the 15th century, during the reign of Abbot George Muestinger (1418-1442), who was a friend and disciple of the Viennese astronomer John Gmunden, a seminary was established where celestial bodies were studied and maps were created.
Since 1634, during the reign of the Habsburgs, many monastery buildings have been restored in the Baroque style by architects Jacob Prandtauer, Joseph Emaluel Fischer von Erlach. In 1740, after the death of Charles VI., The reconstruction project was stopped. Since 1882, the restoration of the monastery church began according to the project of Friedrich von Schmidt, it was during this period that two bell towers were created.
The most difficult period for the abbey came in 1941. The abbey was disbanded: some of the monks were expelled, others were sent to the army, and the rest were sent to prison or shot for anti-fascist ideas. Today, 47 novices live in the abbey, and there is a museum.
