Neuberg Abbey

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Neuberg Abbey (Stift Neuberg) is a former Cistercian monastery in Neuberg an der Mürz in Styria, Austria, and is the only extant set of monastic buildings in Austria to have retained its medieval character to any great extent.

[edit] History

The monastery was founded in 1327 by the Hapsburg Duke Otto the Merry, who died here in 1339. It was suppressed in 1786 by Emperor Joseph II. The partly ruined premises were converted use in 1850 as a hunting lodge for Franz Joseph I. The buildings were later owned by the Austrian Forestry Department, until 2006.

[edit] Abbey church

The abbey church became the parish church of Neuberg. Construction on the monumental High Gothic hall church began in about 1330, and was not completed until the reign of Frederick III, in 1496. The roof-timbers from the first half of the 15th century contain more than 1100 m³ of larch wood and constitute the largest and most important construction of this sort in the German-speaking world. The church interior is dominated by the Baroque high altar, dating from 1612. The life-size sandstone statue of the "Neuberger Madonna" and several side-altars date from the Gothic period.

[edit] Other architecture

The cloisters and the chapter house contain precious reliefs, which are among the most important specimens of 14th century sculpture in Austria.