Lambach Abbey

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The monastery

Lambach Abbey (Stift Lambach) is a Benedictine monastery in Lambach in Austria.

[edit] History

A monastery was founded in about 1040 by Bishop Adalbero of Würzburg (later canonised), which since 1056 has been a Benedictine abbey. During the 17th and 18th centuries a great deal of work in the Baroque style was carried out, much of it by the Carlone family. Lambach escaped the dissolution of the monasteries of Emperor Joseph II in the 1780s. It was however dissolved by the National Socialists in 1941, in the Operation Klostersturm, and the premises were used for the accommodation of a Nazi school and training institution. The Benedictines were exiled or forced into state labour work. In 1897/98 Adolf Hitler had lived in the town of Lambach (with his parents). He went to the secular Volksschule at which Benedictine teachers were employed. The dispossessed monastic community returned to Lambach Abbey after the end of World War II.

Bishop Adalbero

[edit] Cultural features

The abbey has preserved much of cultural interest. It contains the oldest extant Romanesque frescoes in Southern Germany and Austria, and the former abbey tavern, now a pharmacy, with a beautiful Baroque facade. The abbey's Baroque theatre has also been restored to working order and the summer refectory from the early 18th century by Carlo Antonio Carlone has been converted into a concert hall. The ambulatory by Diego Carlone from the same period is of great magnificence. An unexpected feature is the set of Baroque dwarves in the monastery garden (see also Gleink Abbey).

The abbey church was also refurbished in the Baroque style, with an organ by Christoph Egedacher and contains the tomb of Saint Adelbero. The abbey also possesses the medieval "St. Adelbero's Chalice", although it is rarely on view to the public, besides a large collection of sacred art. The library was constructed about 1691 and contains approximately 50,000 volumes besides archive material.

Since 1625 the abbey has belonged to the Austrian Congregation now within the Benedictine Confederation.