!!!Zwettl, Stift

Zwettl Abbey, Lower Austria, alt. 500 m, pop. 326, 
village and Cistercian abbey, 3 km north-east of the town  
Zwettl, located on a land bridge in a bend of the River Kamp. Zwettl 
abbey was founded by Hadmar I von Kuenring as the first 
subsidiary of the mother monastery in Heiligenkreuz in 1137, abbey 
church and parish church consecrated in 1159. Of the Romanesque church 
only the southern portal in the cloister has been preserved. The 
historically important Gothic ambulatory with encircling chapels 
(partly incorporating the Romanesque transverse cross) and the 
transept were constructed between 1343 and 1383, the two adjoining 
Gothic vault bays were built around 1490-1495. Baroque elements added 
during the 18%%sup th/%  century (e.g. vestry and treasury east 
of the chancel, by J. Munggenast 1724-1727), the single-towered 
façade (based on plans by M. Steinl, realised by J. Munggenast 
1722-1727) belongs to the most elaborate examples of Austrian-Southern 
German Baroque. Interior: high altar (dates back to 1731, based on 
plans by J. Munggenast and J. B. Kaenischbauer) with statues by 
J. M. Goetz; altar of St. Bernhard (1502, by J. Preu the Elder); 
wood carvings by J. Schletterer; altar paintings by M. Altomonte, P. 
Troger, J. G. Schmidt, M. J. Schmidt, etc.; great organ 
(1730, by J. Egedacher); on the organ loft 22 Gothic stained glass 
(around 1420). The abbey is built around 4 courtyards, parts of the 
medieval building (around 1140-1180) are still preserved: the wing for 
lay brothers, the (oldest preserved Cistercian) chapter house 
(consecrated in 1187), the dormitory with Romanesque latrine buildings 
(earliest example of Cistercian water architecture in Central Europe) 
and the heated room. The (oldest Austrian Cistercian) cloister was 
built in the first quarter of the 13%%sup th/%  century. Baroque 
convent (around 1620-1640) with new building by J. Munggenast 
(1730-1732), library (ceiling frescoes by P. Troger, 1733) with 
valuable manuscripts from the 12%%sup th/%  to the 18%%sup th/% 
 centuries. Abbey court (1680, reconstructed 1731-1739 by J. 
Munggenast) with collection of paintings in the prelacy. Romanesque 
Spitalskirche church (consecrated in 1217) in front of the outside 
gate of the abbey, Romanesque stone-built bridge (12%%sup th/% 
 century) on the southern access road leading to the abbey.

!Literature
P. Buberl, Die Kunstdenkmaeler des Zisterzienserklosters 
Zwettl, 1940 (= Oesterr. Kunsttopographie, vol. 29); H. 
Oezelt, Stift Zwettl, %%sup 4/%1972; K. Kubes, Stift Zwettl und seine 
Kunstschaetze, 1979; J. Klinger (ed.), Zisterzienserstift Zwettl, 
1989.


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