Wilhering Abbey

Austrian Cistercian monastery

Wilhering Abbey (Stift Wilhering) is a Cistercian monastery in Wilhering in Upper Austria, about 8 km (5 mi) from Linz. It was founded in 1146. The buildings, re constructed in the 18th century, are known for their spectacular Rococo decoration.

The monastery was founded by Ulrich and Kolo of Wilhering who donated their family's old castle for the purpose, in accordance with the wish of their deceased father after the family had moved to their new castle at Waxenberg in Oberneukirchen. It was settled initially by Augustinian Canons, but in the first years the new foundation was beset with problems. On 30 September 1146, Ulrich replaced the canons with Cistercian monks from Rein Abbey in Styria. Under its first abbot, Gerald, the monastery was richly endowed and placed under the protection of Eberhard, Bishop of Bamberg. After Ulric's death, his brother, Colo, completed the work so well begun. The foundation did not flourish. In 1185, Henry, the fourth abbot, having but two monks, transferred the abbey to Burkhard, Abbot of Ebrach Abbey, the mother house of Rein, and the monastery was soon re settled by monks from Ebrach. The abbey buildings were almost entirely destroyed by fire on 6 March 1733. Abbot Johann Baptist Hinterhölzl (1734 1750) made emergency repairs to the church using the remnants of the walls.

Abbot Alois Dorfer served as abbot for more than forty years (1851–1892); he placed emphasis on the community's Cistercian heritage. He encouraged administrative structures akin to the medieval filiation system, in which each Cistercian abbey was attached to a mother abbey. Wilhering joined the Austrian Province for Cistercian abbeys when it was established in 1854. The novice masters began to teach young monks the Rule of St. Benedict and the value of ancient monastic observances. Still, most monks worked outside of the monastic enclosure as parish priests and teachers.

In 1940, Wilhering Abbey was expropriated by the Nazis, and the monks were expelled; some were arrested and sent to concentration camps, while others were forced into military service. The abbot, Bernhard Burgstaller [de], died of starvation in 1941 in Anrath Prison. Father Konrad Just was incarcerated in Dachau snd Buchenwald from 1938 to 1945, yet survived. The buildings were used at first to accommodate the seminary from Linz. After 1944, displaced Germans from Bessarabia lived there; other parts served as a military hospital. In 1945, American troops took over the premises. The monks returned in the same year, resumed monastic life, and reopened the school. Balduin Sulzer, Stiftskapellmeister at Wilhering, was a noted music educator and composer.

As of 2007, the monastic community numbered 28. Today the abbey's business enterprises—mainly forestry, farming, and greenhouses—provide a sound economic basis for the monastery. Kürnberg Forest (Kürnberger Wald), owned by the abbey and situated between Wilhering and Linz, forms a green belt that is highly beneficial to the people of the region. The forest contains the remains of a watchtower from the Roman period. The Lady Chapel in the monastery's former chapter house in the cloister is now the place for the daily Liturgy of the Hours, which remains the center of monastic life for the small monastic community. The monastery houses a museum, cafe, and museum store. At first it consisted only of a private lower school. In the school year 1903/04 the school was granted permission to accept state pupils. From the school year 1917/18 upper forms were added, and the first Matura examinations were held in 1922. In 1938 the school and the boarding house were suspended by the National Socialist régime. After the war the school was immediately re established, and re opened in the autumn of 1945. In 1956 a new boarding house wing was constructed. The school buildings were entirely re developed in 1963. Girls have been admitted since 1980/81. The facilities for boarding were discontinued at the end of the academic year in 1990. Presently the school offers general education to approximately 450 boys and girls.

The monastic buildings of the Cistercians were to be constructed, as closely as was possible, in the likeness of the mother house at Cîteaux. The entire monastery premises had to be surrounded by a wall. The main axis of the church had to be on an east west line. The cloister, the "heart of the monastery", was to adjoin the southern front of the church. The chapter house and the common room had to be placed in the east section of the cloister. Upstairs in the eastern range was the monks’ dormitory, connected by stairs with the church and the cloister. In the southern section of the cloister lay the monks’ refectory, and in front of it, projecting into the cloister, a pavilion with a washing fountain, called the "fountain chapel". The lay brothers’ refectory and dormitory were placed in the western range of the cloister, and the kitchen in the south western corner. The section of the cloister next to the church was used as a lecture hall and had to be furnished with a pulpit. This ground plan was also retained in the Baroque layout of Wilhering Abbey. The prestigious buildings, however, which had been planned to surround the outer court of the abbey, were meant as extensions. Nothing remains of the original castle of Wilhering nor of any buildings erected by the monks of Rein. The monks of Ebrach, however, started the construction of a church in 1195 in the Romanesque style, repeatedly rebuilt in the following centuries. Of the previous buildings, only a Romanesque doorway, parts of the Gothic cloister and two tombs Gothic Schaunberg family tombs located on either side of the entrance by the western wall of the abbey church remain. The plain round arched Romanesque portal of the former 12th century church was integrated into the present Rococo church. Originally, access to the church was forbidden to the public, in keeping with the wish of the Cistercians for seclusion. However, for the use of their tenantry they erected a special church, the so called "people’s church", known from an old engraving in the cloister, which also shows the guesthouse by the road, the fish pond, the gate house with the monastery wall, and the garden with the mill. Today the fish pond, the guesthouse and parts of the gate house still remain. The guesthouse is considered one of the oldest parts of the monastery buildings. It was the abbey inn until 1970, and now houses a museum of modern art exhibiting works of the painter Fritz Fröhlich. Along with the former wine cellars and the brewery, which ceased operation around 1930, it is now separated from the main building complex by a road. The present abbey buildings comprise (a) the medieval nucleus (the church, the cloister and the quadrangular buildings of the convent), (b) the extensions from the Baroque period (the abbatial suite, the domed wing, the stables, barns and farm buildings), and (c) the new buildings of the school erected after World War II. To the west lies the abbey park, open to the public, with its stock of exotic trees and the Baroque pavilion. Further on are the greenhouses of the horticultural nursery which also belongs to the abbey. The prominent attraction of the abbey’s outer court is the west façade with the tower and, to the right, the abbatial suite. The tower was erected between 1735 and 1740 and consists of three storeys, which, due to their upward tapering, resemble an extended telescope. It is adorned with rich figural decorations.

According to the German art historian Cornelius Gurlitt, "the abbey church of Wilhering is the most brilliant achievement of the Rococo style in the German speaking world." It gives the impression that more decoration, colour, sculptures, paintings and stuccowork could not be found in a single place. The Baroque dream that heavenly light heartedness and timeless happiness can be brought down to earth, a dream which in the Rococo period reached its nearly unrestrained climax, has come true at Wilhering. Moreover, all the individual elements are in harmony and seem to be connected in some way: the altars, the pulpit, the two organs, the choir stalls, the putti and the frescoes with numerous saints, with clouds and blue sky. These artists had a uniform feeling for style and taste. The ground plan of the present church is the same as that of the old church from before 1733. The church was completely rebuilt in the Rococo style by Johann Haslinger of Linz, a little known master mason from Linz, who may have been working from designs by Joseph Matthias Abbot Hinterhölzl engaged various freelance artists to carry out the programme for the decoration, which is recorded in a banderol in the ceiling fresco of the chancel: "Assumpta est Maria in caelum, gaudent angeli". The well known Baroque painter Martino Altomonte, who was over eighty during this commission, created the altar pieces. The mystery of this abundantly and solemnly decorated space lies in the interplay of many single decorative elements. The beauty displayed here is likely to disclose itself best to those who do not analyse the details, but appreciate the whole interior in its entirety. The latest overall restoration of the church took place between 1971 and 1977 under the artistic direction of Prof. Fritz Fröhlich.