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Stift Klosterneuburg

Andy on Sat, 05/23/2015 - 21:11

ESCKAZ team today has visited Stift Klosterneuburg (Klosterneuburg Abbey) which was free with Vienna Pass offered to the press by ESC organizers.

Klosterneuburg Monastery is a twelfth-century Augustinian monastery of the Roman Catholic Church located in the town of Klosterneuburg in Lower Austria. It was founded in 1114 by Saint Leopold III of Babenberg, the patron saint of Austria, and his second wife Agnes of Germany.

The abbey church, dedicated the Nativity of Mary (Maria Geburt), was consecrated in 1136 and later remodeled in the Baroque style in the seventeenth century. The impressive monastery complex was mostly constructed between 1730 and 1834. Its foundations, including a castle tower and a Gothic chapel, date back to the twelfth century. Other older buildings still extant within the complex include the chapel of 1318 with Saint Leopold's tomb.

Klosterneuburg Monastery contains the Verduner Altar, made in 1181 by Nicholas of Verdun. Its three parts comprise 45 gilded copper plates modeled on Byzantine paragons, similar to the Shrine of the Three Kings at Cologne Cathedral. The monastery also contains a museum with a collection of Gothic and Baroque sculpture and a gallery of paintings, including fifteen panel paintings by Rueland Frueauf from 1505, four Passion paintings from the backside of the Verduner Altar from 1331, and the Babenberg genealogical tree /Wikipedia

We took a sacral tour, which lasted for about an hour and included German speaking guide and audio commentary available at different languages including Russian and English.

It included a very short visit to the Collegiate Church with one of the most important organs in Europe (which was unfortunately closed and we could just see insides from the glass walls), the Leopold chapel with the grave of St. Leopold, the world-famous Verdun Altar, the seven-branched candlestick of Agnes and art treasures of the 14th and 15th centuries.

Monastery also contains great shop (highly recommended, so many great religious and other things, souvenirs and memorabilia and Cafe (not recommended).

It was a final and very pleasant sightseeing during our stay in Austria.

You can read more on the website: http://www.stift-klosterneuburg.at/en
Guided tours: http://www.stift-klosterneuburg.at/tourismus/fuehrungsangebot/