Founded in 1293, Stift Engelszell is the only Trappist monastery in Austria. In 1295, it was settled by monks from Wilhering Abbey. In the period of the Protestant Reformation, the abbey suffered a considerable decline, both spiritual and financial, and for a time it passed into private ownership. By 1925, Engelszell was occupied and refounded as a Trappist monastery by German refugee monks expelled after World War I. Today, it is home to the only Trappist brewery in Austria. There’s a nice variety of monk-made brews, such as blond Nivard and dark Gregorious, available in the shop alongside handmade cheeses.
Close to the monastery is the Abbey Church, which was built between 1754 and 1764 in a Rococo style. Considered to be one of Austria’s most authentic Rococo-style buildings, it contains notable works of art by Bartolomeo Atlomonte, Joseph Deutschmann and Johann Georg Üblhör. After structural damage in the 1950s, the ceiling of the nave was repainted with a contemporary work by Fritz Fröhlich.
Schütz Art Museum, the world’s first zero-energy art museum, houses an impressive collection of artwork with historical significance, some of which have rarely, if ever, been presented to the public. Situated within an incomparably beautiful natural landscape, the museum provides a new home for examples of work by some of the most important representatives of Classic Modernism and an architectonic counterpoint to the Trappist Abbey of Engeszell.
Which cruise lines sail to Engelhartszell?
