Steingaden Abbey

Steingaden Abbey(German:Kloster Steingaden) was aPremonstratensianmonastery inSteingadeninBavaria,Germany.

Steingaden Abbey

History

Steingaden Abbey: copper engraving byMatthaeus Merianfrom the "Topographia Germaniae" of about 1644

Dedicated toJohn the Baptist,the abbey was founded in 1147 as a Premonstratensian house byWelf VI,third son ofHenry the Black, Duke of Bavaria,and brother of DukeHenry the Proud.The first monks and their abbot came from the PremonstratensianRot an der Rot Abbey.TheRomanesqueabbey church was consecrated in 1176. Welf VI and his sonWelf VIIwere both buried here. Between 1470 and 1491 the abbey buildings were refurbished under Abbot Caspar Suiter in theLate Gothicstyle.

The abbey was looted and burnt in 1525 during theGerman Peasants' War,and was later almost completely destroyed in theThirty Years' War.Reconstruction was completed in 1663 under Abbot Augustin Bonenmayr in the style of the earlyBaroque.During the 1740s the nave of the church was redecorated in theRococostyle.

The abbey's prestigious building projects, combined with its inaccessible location, brought it into financial difficulties which remained insuperable to the end of its existence.

Dissolution

Steingaden Abbey was dissolved in 1803 during thesecularisationof Bavaria. The monastic buildings were bought at auction by the Meyer brothers fromAarau,who demolished them in 1819, except for the wing containing the Romanesque cloisters.

Welfenmünster

Welf VI and Welf VII with Steingaden Abbey between them (painting on panel, 16th or 17th century)

The former abbey church, theWelfenmünster(GuelphMinster), dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, is a Romanesque building of the 1170s under an extravagantRococorefurbishment carried out byJohann Georg Bergmüllerthroughout the whole of the 1740s. It survived the dissolution as the parish church of Steingaden, which it remains. The four-column high altar was built around 1663.

The abbey church was the place of burial of the founder, Welf VI, who died in 1191, and his sonWelf VII,who predeceased his father in 1167. Their elaborate tomb was destroyed in 1525. The church retained however a carved sandstone panel of the Welf arms, dating from about 1193which may well have formed part of the destroyed tomb. Apart fromsealsand seal impressions this is the oldest known surviving heraldic representation in Germany. The panel was acquired by theBayerisches Nationalmuseumin Munich in 1861.In 1750 epitaphs of Welf VI and Welf VII were placed on the second pair of pillars in the central nave. Their grave is indicated by a metal plate embedded in the floor of the central aisle. The two Guelphs are also depicted on a fresco by Johann Georg Bergmüller above the organ.

In the late Gothic vestibule with its net vaults, a remnant of a Renaissance painting has been preserved in the form of the “Guelph Genealogy”, which was uncovered in 1951 on the north wall. The paintings show the lineage of theHouse of Welf(the Guelphs) from the ancestorAlbert Azzo I, Margrave of Milan,to Welf VII, as well as the founding of the two elderhouse monasteriesof the Guelphs,Rottenbuch AbbeyandWeingarten Abbey(where most of the older Guelphs are buried). The large picture field on the right above the door illustrates the funeral procession of Duke Welf VI.

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  The monastery in 1803 (before its destruction of 1819)
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  Steingaden Abbey church and market place
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  Western cloister wing with fountain chapel
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  Arcade in the cloister
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  West cloister wing (inside)
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  Rococo-styled Romanesque nave
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  Funerary monument forWelf VI(d. 1191) and his pre-deceased sonWelf VII.Today exhibited in theBavarian National Museum,Munich
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  Genealogy of theHouse of Welf

Wies Church

Main article:Wies Church

The nearby pilgrimage church at Wies was closely connected to Steingaden Abbey. It was built under Abbot Marinus Mayer in 1745 when it became apparent that Wies had become an important centre of pilgrimage, and has continued ever since as one of the most popular pilgrimage churches in Bavaria.

External links

• Klöster in Bayern(in German)