Göttweig Abbey

Göttweig Abbey (German: Stift Göttweig) is a Benedictine monastery located near Krems in Lower Austria, in the municipality of Furth bei Göttweig within the Krems District. Founded in 1083 by Altmann, Bishop of Passau, it stands on a hill south of the Danube at the edge of the Dunkelsteinerwald forest. The abbey is renowned for its Baroque architecture, its exceptional library holdings, and its role as a center of learning and monastic life. In 2000, it was inscribed as part of the Wachau Cultural Landscape UNESCO World Heritage Site, together with Melk Abbey and the old town of Krems.

The site of Göttweig Abbey had been settled since about 2000 BCE, with archaeological finds spanning from the Neolithic period to the Roman era. A chapel dedicated to Saint Erentrudis was consecrated in 1072, but the monastery itself was formally established on 9 September 1083 when Altmann, Bishop of Passau, issued the foundation charter, which is still preserved in the abbey archives. The original community was composed of canons regular, but by 1094 discipline had lapsed so severely that Bishop Ulrich of Passau, with papal permission from Pope Urban II, introduced the Rule of Saint Benedict. Prior Hartmann of Saint Blaise's Abbey in the Black Forest was elected abbot and brought with him a group of reform-minded monks, including the future abbots Wirnto and Berthold. Under Hartmann (1094-1114), Göttweig became a celebrated seat of learning and strict observance; he founded a monastic school, organized a library, and established a nunnery at the foot of the hill where the poet Ava (d. 1127), the earliest named German-language woman poet, lived as an anchorite. The nunnery continued until 1557. The fifteenth and sixteenth centuries brought severe decline. Between 1556 and 1564 the abbey had no abbot, and by 1564 not a single monk remained. An imperial deputation then elected Michael Herrlich, a monk of Melk Abbey, who restored the monastery spiritually and financially. His work was complicated by a devastating fire in 1580 that destroyed most of the buildings, but by the time of his death in 1603 he had left the abbey in orderly condition. Abbots Georg Falb (1612-1631) and David Corner (1631-1648) played notable roles in the Counter-Reformation and in founding the Austrian Benedictine Congregation. In 1718 another fire destroyed the monastery. Abbot Gottfried Bessel (1714-1749) commissioned Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt to design a grander complex inspired by the Escorial. Construction proceeded quickly at first but slowed after 1750 and was eventually abandoned, with only about two-thirds of the plan completed. Bessel himself was a significant figure: historian, diplomat, patron of the arts, and rector of the University of Vienna. For material transport, a horse-drawn inclined railway was built, delivering millions of bricks and tiles between 1718 and 1741. The abbey suffered greatly in the twentieth centuryrochemical. In 1939 it was expropriated for the city of Krems, and the monks were briefly imprisoned before being confined at Unternalb. The buildings served successively as a resettlement camp, prisoner-of-war camp, and from 1943 to 1945 as a National Political Educational Institution. At war's end the complex was devastated, then used as barracks for Soviet occupation troops. The monks returned in August 1945, but the death of Abbot Hartmann Strohsacker in 1946 and the lack of new vocations threatened the abbey with dissolution. Abbot Wilhelm Zedinek (1949-1971) bore the main burden of restitution and reconstruction. Abbot Clemens Lashofer (1973-2009) oversaw progressive restoration, established the Saint Altmann retreat house in 1983, and created a youth house in 1999.

The library of Göttweig Abbey is its most celebrated collection, holding approximately 150,000 books and manuscripts according to some accounts, or more than 130,000 manuscripts, incunables, books, and engravings according to others. It contains a particularly important collection of religious engravings, as well as valuable holdings of coins, antiquities, musical manuscripts, and natural history specimens. These collections survived World War II and its aftermath almost without loss. The abbey also maintains significant holdings in the decorative and fine arts associated with its Baroque rebuilding.

The most famous single work at Göttweig Abbey is the fresco by Paul Troger executed in 1739, decorating the imperial staircase. This fresco, representing the Holy Roman Emperor Charles VI as Apollo, is considered a masterpiece of Baroque art in Austria and adorns the largest Baroque staircase in the country. The abbey also possesses the foundation charter of 1083, still preserved in its archives. Among its buried dead are Hadmar I of Kuenring and the founder Altmann of Passau. In 2006, the abbey was selected as the main motif of the Austrian Göttweig Abbey commemorative coin, minted on 11 October 2006, with the obverse showing the abbey with its fortress-like towers atop the hill surrounded by trees and vineyards.

The present buildings of Göttweig Abbey date primarily from the reconstruction after the 1718 fire. Johann Lucas von Hildebrandt's design, inspired by the Escorial, was only partially realized: the convent buildings retain a grid-like plan, and the church is richly decorated with stucco work and frescoes. The imperial apartments contain the famous staircase with Troger's fresco. From the first building campaign in the twelfth century, only the nave of the church, the Erentrudis Chapel, and the "Burg" survive. From the late Gothic period, the choir of the church with its crypt and sacristies and wings of the cloister (now the lapidarium) remain. Archaeological excavations in 2009 revealed the foundations of the Georgkirche and some roof burials. The abbey occupies a commanding position high above the Danube, and the monastery operates the highest apricot orchard in Austria's Wachau Valley.

Göttweig Abbey is located in Furth bei Göttweig, in the Krems District of Lower Austria, near Krems an der Donau. It is accessible along the World Heritage Trail, the Dunkelsteinerwald Trail, and the Way of Saint James. The abbey remains an active Benedictine monastery, with approximately thirty monks as of 2023, and has been a member of the Austrian Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation since 1625. Since 2000 it has formed part of the Wachau UNESCO World Heritage landscape. The monastery is also known for its apricot products and wines produced on site. The abbey maintains an official website at www.stiftgoettweig.at.