Mauerbach Charterhouse (german: Kartause Mauerbach), in Mauerbach on the outskirts of

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

, is a former

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone (hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer which ...

, or charterhouse. Founded in 1314 and rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries, the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

monastic complex is one of the most important structures of its kind in Austria. Since 1984 the former charterhouse has been undergoing restoration by the Austrian Federal Monuments Office ("'' Österreichischer Bundesdenkmalamt''" or BDA), which has its workshops there.

History

Mauerbach Charterhouse was founded in 1314 by the

Austrian Austrian may refer to: * Austrians, someone from Austria or of Austrian descent ** Someone who is considered an Austrian citizen, see Austrian nationality law * Austrian German dialect * Something associated with the country Austria, for example: ...

duke

Frederick the Fair Frederick the Fair (german: Friedrich der Schöne) or the Handsome (c. 1289 – 13 January 1330), from the House of Habsburg, was the duke of Austria and Styria from 1308 as well as the anti-king of Germany from 1314 until 1325 and then co-king ...

, who was later buried here. The new foundation was settled by 12 monks under Prior Gottfried descending from Seiz (Žiče) in

Styria Styria (german: Steiermark ; Serbo-Croatian and sl, ; hu, Stájerország) is a state (''Bundesland'') in the southeast of Austria. With an area of , Styria is the second largest state of Austria, after Lower Austria. Styria is bordered to ...

and was consecrated in 1316. In 1342 the

Prague Prague ( ; cs, Praha ; german: Prag, ; la, Praga) is the capital and largest city in the Czech Republic, and the historical capital of Bohemia. On the Vltava river, Prague is home to about 1.3 million people. The city has a temperate ...

Charterhouse (at

Smíchov Smíchov () is (since 1909) a district of Prague, the capital of the Czech Republic, and is part of Prague 5. It is on the west bank of the Vltava river. History Between 1945 and 1989, the district contained a monument dedicated to Soviet tan ...

), destroyed in the

Hussite Wars The Hussite Wars, also called the Bohemian Wars or the Hussite Revolution, were a series of civil wars fought between the Hussites and the combined Catholic forces of Holy Roman Emperor Sigismund, the Papacy, European monarchs loyal to the Cat ...

, was settled by monks who probably came from Mauerbach. The monastery was plundered and set on fire, and some of the monks were massacred, by Ottoman troops during the 1529 Siege of Vienna, and suffered further serious structural damage by the 1590 Neulengbach earthquake. Under Abbot Georg Fasel (1616–1631) an intensive rebuilding programme began, finishing in 1660, during which the great majority of the present-day buildings were constructed. The chronicle of the charterhouse written by Abbot Leopold Brenner was available from as early as 1669, but was not printed until 1725. Brenner had lived here from 1641 and made his profession in 1650, and was thus an eyewitness of the building of the early Baroque monastery. In 1683 renewed Turkish assaults during the

Battle of Vienna The Battle of Vienna; pl, odsiecz wiedeńska, lit=Relief of Vienna or ''bitwa pod Wiedniem''; ota, Beç Ḳalʿası Muḥāṣarası, lit=siege of Beç; tr, İkinci Viyana Kuşatması, lit=second siege of Vienna took place at Kahlenberg Mou ...

caused more destruction, launching a further programme of repairs and refurbishments which finished only in 1750.

Dissolution

In 1782 the monastery was dissolved as "non-productive" by Emperor

Joseph II Joseph II (German: Josef Benedikt Anton Michael Adam; English: ''Joseph Benedict Anthony Michael Adam''; 13 March 1741 – 20 February 1790) was Holy Roman Emperor from August 1765 and sole ruler of the Habsburg lands from November 29, 1780 unt ...

during his rationalist reforms and from 1786 the premises were used for the care of the old and incurably ill of the city of Vienna. Many structural alterations were carried out to adapt the buildings to their new function. In 1944-45 the former monastery was put to use as an emergency hospital. Between 1945 and 1961 the charterhouse was used to house the homeless. During this period the structure was badly neglected, and allowed to fall derelict from exposure to the elements. In 1961 it was acquired by the Austrian federal government and was eventually taken over in 1979 by the ''Bundesbaudirektion'' ("Federal Buildings Directorate"). Since 1984 the complex has housed the workshops of the ''Bundesdenkmalamt'' (Monuments Office). The buildings were also used for decades as a store for works of art that had been looted by the

Nazis Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Na ...

and classified by the Austrian State as "ownerless" (''"herrenloses Kunstgut"'').

Restoration

In 1984 the Austrian Federal Monuments Office ("''Österreichischer Bundesdenkmalamt''") began the painstaking process of repair and restoration. The department's restoration workshops are now also located here.Restaurierwerkstätten Baudenkmalpflege Kartause Mauerbach
, BDA

Gallery

File:Mauerbach 3.jpg, Porta Prima File:Kartause Mauerbach 2.jpg, Eagle's Gate File:Mauerbach Hofbrunnen.JPG, Courtyard fountain File:Kartause Mauerbach 1.jpg, Emperor's Small Gate File:Mauerbach Vorraum.jpg, Antechamber File:Mauerbach Stiege.jpg, Staircase File:Mauerbach - Klosterkirche, Hochaltar.JPG, High altar File:Kartause Mauerbach 4.jpg, Christ's Garden File:Großer Kreuzgang Wandmalerei.JPG, Mural Painting in the large cloister

Notes and references

Sources

* Fahringer, Karl (1994): ''Eine so gute Gelegenheit. Die Aufhebung der Kartause Mauerbach. Ein "Tagebuch".'' Mauerbacher Beiträge Nr. 3/4. Mauerbach 1994 * Fahringer, Karl (2007): ''Alten und Elenden ihr trauriges Daseyn etwas milder zu machen. Das Schicksal der ehemaligen Kartause Mauerbach (1782 - 2007). Geschichte und Geschichten.'' Mauerbacher Beiträge Nr. 13–15. Mauerbach 2007.

External links

BDA: Geschichte der Kartause Mauerbach
(history of Mauerbach Charterhouse)
Dossier / BDA: Kartause Mauerbach: Die Mönche
(the monks)

Institut für Hochbaukonstruktionen u. Bauwerkserhaltung , TU Wien {{Authority control Carthusian monasteries in Austria 1313 establishments in Europe Religious organizations established in the 1310s 1782 disestablishments Christian monasteries established in the 14th century Monasteries in Lower Austria Establishments in the Duchy of Austria