Description of the attraction
The Museum in St. Pölten, founded in 1888, is the oldest diocesan museum in Austria. It is located directly next to the cathedral in the historic rooms on the ground floor of the former Augustinian monastery. It also includes two old, rich libraries with the most valuable books. In the first years of its existence, the museum occupied the former monastery library, and only then it received several rooms at its disposal.
The extensive collection of the Diocesan Museum includes sacred objects from different eras. There is no permanent exhibition in the diocesan museum, but every year the museum workers prepare the most interesting temporary exhibitions that attract thousands of visitors.
The Diocesan Museum of St. Pölten was founded with the support and patronage of the Christian religious art association of Lower Austria. Its storerooms contain rich collections of archaeological finds, historical documents, coins, medals, paintings, sculptures, and handicrafts. The museum pays special attention to sacred art. At the exhibitions in the diocesan museum, you can see old altars, liturgical objects and attire of priests, canvases and sculptures on religious themes. A huge collection of Gothic sculptures is amazing. Particularly valuable works of art date back to the early 14th century. These are the figures of the Madonna and the saints that were previously in the Cathedral of St. Pelten. Several items, including the Gothic altarpiece of St. Andrew, dating from 1470, were brought here from the former cemetery chapel of St. Pölten. The collection of Gothic stained-glass windows is also of great interest.
