St. Lambert's Abbey () is a

Benedictine The Benedictines, officially the Order of Saint Benedict (, abbreviated as O.S.B. or OSB), are a mainly contemplative monastic order of the Catholic Church for men and for women who follow the Rule of Saint Benedict. Initiated in 529, th ...

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 Christians, Christian monks and nun ...

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 ( ; ; ; ) is an Austrian Federal states of Austria, state in the southeast of the country. With an area of approximately , Styria is Austria's second largest state, after Lower Austria. It is bordered to the south by Slovenia, and cloc ...

n ''Grebenzen'' nature reserve in

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. 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 (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

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

Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp Mauthausen was a German 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 f ...

. The monks returned in 1946. The two churches within the monastic grounds are called the Abbey Church () and St. Peter's Church (). 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 (), also called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy), Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible. The successor of his father David, he is described as having been the penultimate ...

. On the lowest level is depicted the

Old Testament The Old Testament (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 and occasionally Aramaic writings by the Isr ...

Judgment of Solomon The Judgement of Solomon is a story from the Old Testament in which Solomon ruled between two women who both claimed to be the mother of a child. Solomon ordered the baby be cut in half, with each woman to receive one half. The first woman accept ...

, above this the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

with the

baby Jesus The Christ Child—also known as Baby Jesus, Infant Jesus, Child Jesus, Divine Child, Divine Infant and the Holy Child—refers to Jesus Christ during his early years. The term refers to a period of Jesus' life, described in the canonical Gospe ...

, and above all else

Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

: "the Word of God made Flesh" (

logos ''Logos'' (, ; ) is a term used in Western philosophy, psychology and rhetoric, as well as religion (notably Logos (Christianity), Christianity); among its connotations is that of a rationality, rational form of discourse that relies on inducti ...

). Other frescoes dating from the 14th century depict

Saint Christopher Saint Christopher (, , ; ) is venerated by several Christian denominations. According to these traditions, he was a martyr killed in the reign of the 3rd-century Roman Empire, Roman emperor Decius (), or alternatively under the emperor Maximin ...

and

Saint Agnes Agnes of Rome (21 January 304) is a virgin martyr, venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, Oriental Orthodox Churches, Oriental Orthodox Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church, as well as the Anglican Communion and Lutheranism, Lutheran Chu ...

. Formerly in the monastery there was also a votive altarpiece from which the Master of the Saint Lambrecht Votive Altarpiece received his name; this is now on loan in the Alte Galerie in

Graz Graz () is the capital of the Austrian Federal states of Austria, federal state of Styria and the List of cities and towns in Austria, second-largest city in Austria, after Vienna. On 1 January 2025, Graz had a population of 306,068 (343,461 inc ...

. The abbey is a member of the Austrian Congregation within the Benedictine Confederation.

Landmarks

*The early Baroque architecture, Baroque 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 architecture, Gothic 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 1070s Tourist attractions in Styria