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30-515: The precursor of the currently existing observatory was founded in 1774 at the Saint Emmeram's Abbey . Prince-Abbot Frobenius Forster dedicated two towers of the abbey which were prepared for astronomical and meteorological observations in the years 1774 and 1775. When the abbey was dissolved in 1812, the observatory was moved into a tower in the city wall. This tower was named Placidustower after Placidus Heinrich , one of its first users and

60-611: A daughter of Boso the Elder , functioned as lay abbot of Gorze. In 933 the premises, by then semi-derelict, were given by Adalbero, Bishop of Metz , to John of Gorze and Einald of Toul so that they could restore observance of the Rule of St. Benedict . They did so extremely successfully and the customary of Gorze soon spread to many other monasteries, at first local, such as St. Maximin's Abbey, Trier , and St. Evre's Abbey, Toul , and later in more distant places, such as Bavaria , through

90-520: A local newspaper announced a public talk about the Milky Way for the first Thursday in the new year. Since then Karl Stoeckl regularly opened the observatory to the public. In 1923 the Lyzeum was converted to a Philosophisch-theologische Hochschule (German for philosophical-theological college ). A local newspaper reported in 1938 that the observatory is opened to the public on Friday evenings. After

120-708: A monk of the Order of Saint Benedict . Placidus Heinrich introduced astronomy as a subject at the Lyzeum in Regensburg, a university dedicated to Philosophy and Theology . The remaining instruments are now part of the historical collection at the University of Regensburg . Due to the construction of a new road, the Placidustower was torn down in 1902. The government of Bavaria assigned 20,000 Mark to build

150-485: A new observatory. Two new floors and a dome on top of the roof were constructed on top of an existing building used by the Lyzeum. The dome was produced by Heyde, a company located in Dresden . The construction was started in 1902 and finished in 1905. The dome received a refracting telescope build by Reinfelder. In the year 1919 physicist Professor Karl Stoeckl was appointed to the Lyzeum in Regensburg. In November 1919,

180-581: A special building, and it appears that relatively few manuscripts, of poor quality, were produced there during the early tenth century. Over time, some works in the scriptorium were copied by monks, some works were preserved from the Carolingian period, and others were acquired as gifts. The library became well supplied with works by early Christian writers such as Saint Augustine, as well as by ancient writers such as Virgil and Seneca. In addition to works that had an overt religious or inspirational purpose,

210-457: Is now a parish church named St. Emmeram's Basilica . The other buildings on the site form a large complex known as Schloss Thurn und Taxis or Schloss St. Emmeram , which has served as the main residence of the Thurn und Taxis princely family since the early 19th century. When the monastery was founded in about 739, the bishops of Regensburg were abbots in commendam , a common practice at

240-517: Is the largest private residence in Germany, with 517 rooms and a floor area of 21,460 m (231,000 sq ft ). The residence with its park in Regensburg's city center covers five hectares . The Thurn und Taxis princely family still uses the Schloss as its primary residence, thus it can be considered to be the family seat . The abbey church became a parish church, to which Pope Paul VI accorded

270-462: The Easter rituals. From the 12th century Gorze ceased to occupy the central spiritual position it had had previously. Nevertheless, in material terms it continued to prosper, and in the 12th and 13th centuries undertook substantial building works, including the lay church, which alone of the abbey buildings still survives, as the present parish church of Saint Stephen . The extensive territory which

300-610: The Holy Roman Empire to France . In the 1690s, the Prince-Abbot Eberhard von Löwenstein built an appropriately splendid residence, which still stands. At the time of the French Revolution the building was confiscated and sold off and was later used for a variety of military and local government purposes, particularly as a workhouse for the poor. The palace has now been restored and is in use as

330-611: The ciborium of Arnulf , now in the Residenz ) and its valuable library (including Muspilli , the Codex Aureus of St. Emmeram , and Dialogus de laudibus sanctae crucis ) were mostly removed to Munich . In 1812, the secularized monastic buildings were granted to the Princes of Thurn und Taxis , who converted the abbey into a palatial residence known from then on as Schloss Thurn und Taxis, also called Schloss St. Emmeram. It

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360-629: The Archbishopric of Regensburg, under the former Prince-Primate Carl Theodor von Dalberg . In 1803, he donated a large garden at the abbey to the Royal Bavarian Botanical Society of Regensburg for construction of a botanic garden that was maintained until 1855. After the Treaty of Paris of 1810, the entire Principality of Regensburg was transferred to Bavaria . The treasures of St. Emmeram's Abbey (for example,

390-490: The abbey accumulated became known as the "Terre de Gorze". The abbey was dissolved in 1572 as a consequence of the Reformation . An attempt at a re-foundation in 1580 came to nothing, and the buildings, apart from St. Stephen's church, were demolished. The "Terre de Gorze" continued however as a territorial unit, with an abbot as its overlord, even in the absence of a monastic community. In the 1660s these lands passed from

420-473: The abbey the regalia and made it reichsunmittelbar (i.e., an Imperial abbey , an independent sovereign power subject directly to the emperor ). After a decline in its significance during the 16th century, the abbey enjoyed a resurgence in the 17th and 18th centuries under abbots Frobenius Forster , Coelestin Steiglehner, Roman Zirngibl and Placidus Heinrich, who were great scholars, particularly in

450-529: The book room as a bibliotheca , a term implying an extensive manuscript collection. St. Emmeram's scriptorium in the Early Middle Ages became a significant centre of book production and illumination, the home of works such as the sacramentary of Emperor Henry II (produced between 1002 and 1014) and the Uta Codex (shortly after 1002). In 1295, the counter-king Adolf of Nassau granted

480-624: The closure of the Philosophisch-theologische Hochschule in the year 1968, the observatory was sustained as a part of the Regensburg University of Applied Sciences through the efforts made by Prof. Dr. Bernhard Heß and Alois Menath . In 1976 a non-profit club, the Verein der Freunde der Sternwarte Regensburg e.V. , was founded and is running the observatory until today. In 1982 the observatory

510-417: The decoration and fittings from the 17th and 18th centuries. The tabernacle on the north side of the choir has figures of Saint Rupert and other saints. The altar of Saint Michael dated from 1713. The nave is decorated with pictures of the miracles of Saint Rupert. 49°0′55″N 12°5′34″E  /  49.01528°N 12.09278°E  / 49.01528; 12.09278 Gorze Abbey Gorze Abbey

540-433: The library held a large collection of manuscripts used in the monastery school, focusing on subjects such as logic, arithmetic, rhetoric, grammar, and even astronomy and music. By the early eleventh century, the library at St. Emmeram had acquired a reputation for its collection. Neighboring libraries began requesting to borrow books for copying. An eleventh-century librarian at the monastery, Froumund of Tegernsee, referred to

570-601: The magnificent Baroque refurbishment (by the Asam brothers ) of the abbey church, which had been repeatedly burnt out and repaired. In 1803, St. Emmeram's Abbey (along with the Imperial City of Regensburg, the Bishopric of Regensburg and the two other Imperial abbeys, Niedermünster and Obermünster ) lost its previous politically independent status to the newly formed Principality of Regensburg , often referred to as

600-582: The mediation of Wolfgang of Regensburg . The Gorze Reform was similar to the Cluniac Reform in that it aimed at a reestablishment of the Rule of St. Benedict, but quite different in several major areas. In particular, whereas Cluny created a centralised system of authority in which the religious houses adopting its reforms became subordinate to Cluny itself, the Gorze reforms preserved the independence of

630-586: The natural sciences. Under their leadership, the abbey's academy came to rival the Münchner Akademie . St. Emmeram's had a long tradition of scientific enquiry dating from the Middle Ages, in witness of which the monastery preserved the astrolabe of William of Hirsau . In 1731, the abbots were raised to the status of Princes of the Empire ( Reichsfürsten ). Between 1731 and 1733, there followed

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660-460: The north portal, dating from about 1052, the oldest of their type in Germany, represent Christ , Saint Emmeram and Saint Denis . The west transept has a painted wooden ceiling depicting Saint Benedict of Nursia . The crypt of Saint Wolfgang is beneath the choir of Saint Denis. Next to Saint Denis's altar in the northern aisle is the tomb of Emma, Queen of the East Franks (died 876), let into

690-403: The participating monasteries, and resulted instead in a network of loosely connected affiliations based on several centres, such as Fulda , Niederaltaich , Einsiedeln and St. Emmeram's Abbey in Regensburg . Gorze was also the home of the " chant messin " , an early form of Gregorian chant or plainsong , as a part of the liturgy , and also of sacred drama, particularly in connection with

720-423: The status of a basilica minor on 18 February 1964. The Romanesque basilica with three aisles, three choirs and a west transept is based on an original church building from the second half of the 8th century. Since that time, it has been many times partly destroyed and rebuilt. The oldest extant part of the building is the ring crypt under the choir of the northern aisle. The three medieval, carved stone reliefs on

750-409: The time which was not always to the advantage of the abbeys concerned. In 975, Saint Wolfgang of Regensburg , then bishop of Regensburg and abbot of St. Emmeram's, voluntarily gave up the position of abbot and severed the connection, making the abbots of St. Emmeram's independent of the bishopric. He was one of the first German bishops to do this, and his example in this was much copied across Germany in

780-477: The two floors dedicated to the observatory house 3 exhibition rooms and a lecture hall. Saint Emmeram%27s Abbey Saint Emmeram's Abbey ( German : Kloster Sankt Emmeram or Reichsabtei Sankt Emmeram ) was a Benedictine monastery founded around 739 at Regensburg in Bavaria (modern-day southeastern Germany ) at the grave of the itinerant Frankish bishop Saint Emmeram . The original abbey church

810-442: The wall. The high altar dates from 1669. The tower has six bells. St. Rupert 's church was formerly the parish church of the monastery. The church, with two aisles, was constructed in the second half of the 11th century, but was frequently adapted and enlarged. The nave is from the 14th century, the choir from 1405, the high altar with four pillars and a picture of the baptism of Duke Theodo of Bavaria by Saint Rupert from 1690, and

840-490: The years following. The first independent abbot was Ramwold (later the Blessed Ramwold). Both he and Saint Wolfgang were advocates of the monastic reforms of Gorze . Saint Wolfgang, who was made bishop in 972, ordered that a library be constructed at St. Emmeram shortly after his arrival in Regensburg. An active scriptorium had existed at St. Emmeram in the Carolingian period, but it is not known whether it occupied

870-577: Was a Benedictine monastery in Gorze in the present arrondissement of Metz , near Metz in Lorraine . It was prominent as the source of a monastic reform movement in the 930s. Gorze Abbey was founded in around 757 by Bishop Chrodegang of Metz , who obtained for it from Rome the relics of Saint Gorgonius . The new community at first followed his Rule, but decline later set in. The highly placed Frankish lord Bivin of Gorze (810–863), married to

900-425: Was renovated. During the renovation, the telescope from 1905 was permanently damaged and replaced by an apochromat build by Lichtenknecker . Today, the dome houses a 6" apochromat and a 12.5" Cassegrain telescope . Other telescopes available at the observatory include an 11" and a 12" Schmidt–Cassegrain telescope . The inventory of the observatory includes a high precission clock build by Riefler . The rooms of

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