Garsten Abbey ( German : Stift Garsten ) is a former Benedictine monastery located in Garsten near Steyr in Upper Austria . Since 1851, the former monastery buildings have accommodated a prison.
7-664: The abbey was founded in 1080–1082 by Ottokar II of Styria as a community of secular canons and as a dynastic burial place for his family. Together with his fortress, the Styraburg (Schloss Lemberg), it served as a focal point of Ottokar as ruler of the Traungau , and was endowed with significant possessions in the Traisen and Gölsen valleys, in Lower Austria , probably from the dowry of Ottokar's wife Elisabeth, daughter of
14-535: Is held in the "Am Platzl" Square in front of the abbey church in late November and early December. Garsten, like several other Benedictine monasteries in Austria, contained a theatre. It was dismantled and moved to Steyr in 1789, where it was reassembled in the former church of the Celestine nuns , whose community had also been dissolved, as the town theatre, which operated until 1958. The building, still known as
21-549: The Altes Stadttheater , is now a music school. Since 1850 the former monastery buildings have accommodated a prison, Justizanstalt Garsten . This is one of the few prisons in Austria where life sentences are carried out. Austrian incest-rapist Josef Fritzl is serving his sentence there. 48°01′11″N 14°24′37″E / 48.01972°N 14.41028°E / 48.01972; 14.41028 Ottokar II of Styria Ottokar II (died 28 November 1122)
28-652: The Babenberger Leopold II of Austria . In 1107–1108 the monastery was made a priory of the Benedictine Göttweig Abbey ; and became an independent abbey in 1110–1111. Its first and greatest abbot was Blessed Berthold of Garsten (d. 1142), a champion of the Hirsau Reforms , who is buried in the abbey church, and who built the abbey up to such a level that for centuries it was the religious, spiritual and cultural centre of
35-633: The Eisenwurzen region. Monks from Garsten settled Gleink Abbey in the 1120s. From 1625 Garsten Abbey was a member of the Benedictine Austrian Congregation . In 1787 it was dissolved by Emperor Joseph II . The abbey church still survives as a parish church. It was built by the Carlone family of master builders and is considered one of the most beautiful examples of High Baroque architecture in Austria. The church
42-581: Was Margrave of Styria . He was the son of Ottokar I and grandfather of Ottokar III , from the dynasty of the Otakars . In the investiture dispute , he sided with the pope, which resulted in a battle with his brother Adalbero , who sided with the emperor, but died in 1086 or 1087. After the Eppensteiner dynasty went extinct, Ottokar inherited their possessions in the Mur and Mürz valleys. He founded
49-580: Was designed by Pietro Francesco Carlone using the Jesuit church in Linz as a model, and finished by his sons Carlo Antonio and Giovanni Battista, it was said to have one of the most magnificent interiors of the late Austro-Italian Baroque. Particularly notable are the stucco work and the Dutch tapestries. The Losenstein chapel, the sacristy and the summer choir are also of special interest. A Christmas market
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