St. Lambert's Abbey (german: Stift St. Lambrecht) is a

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

Abbey An abbey is a type of monastery used by members of a religious order under the governance of an abbot or abbess. Abbeys provide a complex of buildings and land for religious activities, work, and housing of Christian monks and nuns. The conce ...

in the village of

Sankt Lambrecht Sankt Lambrecht is a market town in the district of Murau in Styria, Austria. It is known for St. Lambrecht's Abbey, one of the most important Benedictine monasteries in Austria. The monastery complex and its gardens are part of the Zirbitzkogel- ...

in the

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 ...

n ''Grebenzen'' nature reserve in

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 ...

. The monastery is located above sea level. The monastery complex and its gardens are part of the Zirbitzkogel-Grebenzen nature park.

History

The monastery was founded in 1076 by Count Markward IV of Eppenstein, Margrave of Styria; it was dissolved from 1786 to 1803. In 1938, the building was seized by the

National Socialists 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 ...

. From 1942 to 1945, it was used as an external storage facility of the

Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp Mauthausen was a Nazi concentration camp on a hill above the market town of Mauthausen, Upper Austria, Mauthausen (roughly east of Linz), Upper Austria. It was the main camp of a group with List of subcamps of Mauthausen, nearly 100 further ...

. The monks returned in 1946. The two churches within the monastic grounds are called the Abbey Church (german: Stiftskirche) and St. Peter's Church (german: Peterskirche). During restoration work on the Abbey Church in the early 1970s extraordinary frescoes dating from the latter half of the 15th century were discovered on the north wall. These show the throne of

Solomon Solomon (; , ),, ; ar, سُلَيْمَان, ', , ; el, Σολομών, ; la, Salomon also called Jedidiah (Hebrew language, Hebrew: , Modern Hebrew, Modern: , Tiberian Hebrew, Tiberian: ''Yăḏīḏăyāh'', "beloved of Yahweh, Yah"), ...

. On the lowest level is depicted the

Old Testament The Old Testament (often abbreviated OT) is the first division of the Christian biblical canon, which is based primarily upon the 24 books of the Hebrew Bible or Tanakh, a collection of ancient religious Hebrew writings by the Israelites. The ...

Judgment of Solomon The Judgement of Solomon is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which Solomon ruled between two women both claiming to be the mother of a child. Solomon revealed their true feelings and relationship to the child by suggesting the baby be cut in two ...

, above this the

Virgin Mary Mary; arc, ܡܪܝܡ, translit=Mariam; ar, مريم, translit=Maryam; grc, Μαρία, translit=María; la, Maria; cop, Ⲙⲁⲣⲓⲁ, translit=Maria was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Joseph and the mother o ...

with the

baby Jesus The Christ Child, also known as Divine Infant, Baby Jesus, Infant Jesus, the Divine Child, Child Jesus, the Holy Child, Santo Niño, and to some as Señor Noemi refers to Jesus Christ from his nativity to age 12. The four canonical gospels, a ...

, and above all else

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

: "the Word of God made Flesh" (

logos ''Logos'' (, ; grc, wikt:λόγος, λόγος, lógos, lit=word, discourse, or reason) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric and refers to the appeal to reason that relies on logic or reason, inductive and deductive ...

). Other frescoes dating from the 14th century depict

Saint Christopher Saint Christopher ( el, Ἅγιος Χριστόφορος, ''Ágios Christóphoros'') is veneration, venerated by several Christianity, Christian denominations as a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman Empire, Roman emperor Deciu ...

and

Saint Agnes Agnes of Rome () is a virgin martyr, venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Churches. St. Agnes is one of several virgin martyrs co ...

. Formerly in the monastery there was also a votive altarpiece from which the

Master of the Saint Lambrecht Votive Altarpiece The Master of the Saint Lambrecht Votive Altarpiece was an Austrian painter active between about 1410 and 1440. His name is derived from a panel, formerly in St. Lambrecht's Abbey in the village of Sankt Lambrecht in Styria. This, now in the A ...

received his name; this is now on loan in the Alte Galerie in

Graz Graz (; sl, Gradec) is the capital city of the Austrian state of Styria and second-largest city in Austria after Vienna. As of 1 January 2021, it had a population of 331,562 (294,236 of whom had principal-residence status). In 2018, the popul ...

. The abbey is a member of the

Austrian Congregation The Austrian Congregation is a congregation of Benedictine monasteries situated in Austria, within the Benedictine Confederation. History The Congregation was founded on 3 August 1625 by Pope Urban VIII, and consisted of eleven Benedictine monaster ...

within the

Benedictine Confederation The Benedictine Confederation of the Order of Saint Benedict ( la, Confœderatio Benedictina Ordinis Sancti Benedicti) is the international governing body of the Order of Saint Benedict. Origin The Benedictine Confederation is a union of monasti ...

Landmarks

*The early

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 buildings *The monastery museum with its art collection *The folklore museum of Father Romuald Pramberger and the bird museum of Father Blasius Hanf *The

Gothic Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and languages *Goths or Gothic people, the ethnonym of a group of East Germanic tribes **Gothic language, an extinct East Germanic language spoken by the Goths **Crimean Gothic, the Gothic language spoken b ...

Abbey Church *Saint Peter's Church (founded 1424)

References

*The information in this article is based on a translation of its German equivalent.

External links

St. Lambrecht's Abbey website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Lambrecht's Abbey Benedictine monasteries in Austria Monasteries in Styria 1076 establishments in Europe Christian monasteries established in the 11th century Tourist attractions in Styria