!!!St. Peter

Saint Peter's Monastery, Benedictine monastery in Salzburg, 696/700 
established by Saint  Rupert in keeping with early Christian 
traditions, the oldest monastery in the German-speaking world, under 
the direct rule of the Archbishop until 987, when it was separated 
from the archdiocese. The monastery was an eminent intellectual and 
artistic centre: participation in the Christianisation of the Slavs in 
Carantania in the 8%%sup th/%  century and in the christianisation of 
the Hungarians in the 9%%sup th/%  century. From the 9%%sup th/%  
century to the 16%%sup th/%  century masterpieces in the art of book 
production were created in Saint Peter's Monastery (especially  Book 
Illumination and book binding), as well as in the art of gold smithing 
and stone masonry. The grammar school also enjoyed a venerable 
reputation. One of the most prominent abbots was Johann von Staupitz, 
1522-1524, who was Martin Luther's superior and whom the latter 
considered a fatherly friend.

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The core of the monastery church is Romanesque (1130-1143) and has a 
Romanesque narthex and portal recessed in several steps (both date 
from the 13%%sup th/%  century), as well as an older tympanum (1160?), 
late Baroque façade, Rococo interior, Romanesque frescoes 
(1190-1240), altar paintings by M. J. Schmidt, vault and wall 
paintings by J. B. Weiss and F. X. Koenig; gravestones 
(15%%sup th/% -18%%sup th/%  centuries), including a memorial slab for 
Saint  Vitalis (around 1430/1440) and the sarcophagus-like tomb of 
Hans Werner von Raitenau (d. 1593).

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In the courtyard is a late Romanesque cloister with well-house 
(mid-13%%sup th/%  century); early Gothic chapterhouse (first half of 
the 14%%sup th/%  century) and the Gothic St. Mary's Chapel. In the 
cemetery is a late Gothic St. Margaret's Chapel (1485-1491) and 
"Catacombs" (probably hermitages from the 11%%sup th/% 
/12%%sup th/%  centuries). The Benedictine theological college with 
frescoes by A. Faistauer, built in 1924-1926, also belongs to the 
monastery. The enormous costs of building the college coupled with 
massive debts meant that the monastery was forced to sell its most 
important art treasures to institutions in Vienna and American museums 
in 1931/1932. Since 1927 Saint Peter's Monastery has held the honorary 
title "Erzabtei" ("Archabbey").

!Literature
Saint Peter's Monastery in Salzburg - Das aelteste Kloster 
im deutschen Sprachraum, exhibition catalogue, Salzburg 1982; 
Festschrift Erzabtei Saint Peter's Monastery in Salzburg 582-1982, 
Salzburg 1982.


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