Welcome To The Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz!: History Courtyard

Welcome to the Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz!
History
Courtyard
Heiligenkreuz Abbey in the Wienerwald was

founded in 1133 by St. Leopold III of the House
of Babenberg. Leopolds son, Otto, had been sent
to Paris to obtain an
international education. In
Paris, Otto came in
contact with Cistercian
monks and soon
decided to enter
a Cistercian
monastery.
When Otto
visited
his
father
in
Austria,
he asked
him to build
a similar
monastery
for Lower
Austria. This
was the reason
why St. Leopold
built
Heiligenkreuz; he
also founded
Klosterneuburg (in the northwest of Vienna).
Here you will find two monuments by Giovanni

Giuliani, an artist deeply connected to Heiligenkreuz. The Holy Trinity Column stands in the centre of the courtyard; St. Joseph's
Fountain is on the far side. Both were
made at the beginning of the 18th
Century. The Holy Trinity Column shows
the Assumption of the Virgin Mary (you
can see her rising, in the middle of
the column); the smaller panels
around St. Joseph's Fountain
show scenes from the
Bible.
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Reception and Visitor Information

Aula: Meeting Point for guided tours
Romanesque western facade of the
church (1187)
Column of The Holy Trinity (17291739)
Fountain of St. Joseph (1739)
Old Cloister Entrance (1730)
Cloister (1240)
Chapel of St. Anne (1710)
Chapterhouse (1240)
Funeral Chapel (1711)
Fountain House (1295)
Fraterie - Medieval Workroom (1240)
Sacristy (1667)
Apse in form of a hall (1295)
Nave (1187)
Living quarters of the monks (1642)
Chapel of St. Bernard (1295)
Festival Hall (1691)
Bell Tower (1674)
Sanctuary of the Relic of the Holy
Cross (1982)
Gift Shop
Cloister
The cloister
was
constructed
between
1220 and
1240: this was
a time of
stylistic transition from
Romanesque to
Gothic. Therefore,
you can find a
combination of the
two styles
here in the cloister.
Compare, for instance, the arches which connect
the small red marble columns.
Originally, the cloister was built as a connection
between the church and the sacristy. The monks
also used it for prayer and study.
The tombstones on the wall belong to members
of noble families who gave endowments to the
abbey. The oldest ones are from the 14th Century.
Statues
Two statues in the cloister are works by Giovanni
Giuliani. One depicts Jesus washing the feet of
St. Peter and the statue on the other side shows
Mary Magdalene anointing the feet of Jesus.
Made of linden wood, they were finished in 1705.
Reading Corridor
Every evening at eight o'clock, the monks convene here to read a chapter from the Rule of St.
Benedict. Every year on Holy Thursday, a foot
washing ceremony takes place here. As an imitation of Christs humility, the abbot washes the
feet of the 12 oldest men from parishes under
Heiligenkreuzs pastoral care.
The lower windows are all modern, but in the
semi-circular windows over the reading-pulpit
you can see original glass from the 13th Century;

these sections are light grey. The windows consist of glass and lead. The first Cistercians did not
use any colours in their stained glass, because
they wanted the windows to represent the simple
life.
St. Annes Chapel

Originally the front part of this room was the sacristy and the far end was the library. Later, when
the number of monks grew to 250, they needed a
new sacristy and a new library. Today, 64 monks
belong to the abbey. Not all of them live here,
because some of the monks have to take care of
the 17 parishes which belong to the monastery.
The Cistercian Order is a reform movement
within the Benedictine tradition. The Cistercians
split off in 1098 because they wanted to live in a
more simple way than the Benedictines.
Chapterhouse
The election of the abbot and the investiture of
novices take place in this room.
All the paintings are Baroque; those on the ceiling are by Michael Rottmayer, those on the wall
were made by a lay brother called Mathias Gusner. He painted the members of the House of
Babenberg who are buried here. The Romanesque, sculptured tombstone in the middle of the
room is the grave of the last Babenberg Duke,
Frederick the Quarrelsome; he died in 1246. The
windows were made in the 19th Century in Kramsach in Tyrol. The rosette-window was at the
World Exhibition in Paris in 1889, where it won
the first prize for its colours and their composition.
Funeral Chapel
Originally, this room was the Parlatorium, the
only room in the monastery where the monks
were allowed to speak. Later, the rule of silence
was limited to the night-time hours and therefore
Giovanni Giuliani transformed this room into a
chapel for the dead. Deceased monks were and
still are kept here for a 24-hour vigil before
being buried. The cross, made of lead, is by
Raphael Donner. The ugly window was created by
Peter Bischof in 1960.
Fountain House
This room served as a washing room till the middle of the 16th Century. The fountain was made in
Rome in 1556 and consists of five lead basins.
Because of the high mineral content of the water,
the fountain has been decorated by mineral
deposits. Most of the windows are modern replacements, but the one on the left that portrays
human figures originates from 1295. On the upper left side you can see the abbeys of Heiligenkreuz (left), and Klosterneuburg (right). Then,
underneath the two abbeys, you have pictures of
the man who founded both monasteries, St. Leopold III (left), and his wife Agnes (right). Under
the couple you can see six of their children. The
man in the white robe is Blessed Otto of Freising,

the son who was sent to Paris for college and
returned to Lower Austria with Cistercian monks.
Fraterie
Originally, this was the monks workroom, used
for making shoes and boots. The dark, grey spots
on the walls and on the ceiling are remnants from
13th-century paintings. They were discovered
recently during a restoration project. These
paintings are, like the windows in the cloister,
very straightforward: the monks only used two
colours (red and white) and they painted single
bricks in order to reflect their ideal of simplicity.
Sacristy
The sacristy was constructed at the beginning of
the 18th Century. The paintings and the frescos
on the ceiling, made by Grophoro Tenckalla and
Antonio Aliprandi, originated at the time of construction. The inlaid woodwork in the cabinets
was done by two lay brothers: Brother Lukas
Barth and Brother Casper Wiler. It took them 20
years to complete! In addition, they used 20 different kinds of wood: mainly maple, nut and linden wood.
Abbey Church
The Abbey Church was built in two different
styles: the Romanesque and the Gothic style.
The Romanesque part was finished in 1187. The
three windows above the entrance are typical of
Cistercian abbeys: they symbolise the Holy Trinity. The Gothic part of the church was finished in
1295. The high altar stands in the middle of this
part, over it a canopy and a painted wooden
cross. The altar and the canopy are Neogothic;
they are about 100 years old. The cross was
painted in 1980. It is the copy of an Italian original from 1138, found in a church next to La Spezia. The organ is one of the biggest musical instruments in Austria and was built in 1804. It has
3700 pipes, 50 registers and 2 manuals. Franz
Schubert and Anton Bruckner played it. Since
Schubert composed a special piece of music for
the organ, it is still called the Schubertorgan. The
choir stalls, which were created between 1708
and 1712, are another work by Giuliani. They
consist of nut wood (the dark parts) and linden
wood (the reliefs and busts above). The reliefs
portray scenes from the life of Jesus Christ. The
busts above represent saintly bishops, abbots
and statesmen. From their heavenly choir, they
join their voices in praise together with the
monks choir here below.
Today, the monks sing the office in Gregorian
Chant five times a day. Prayers begin here at
5:15 a.m. and end at 8:00 p.m.
Information: www.stift-heiligenkreuz.at
Address : Zisterzienserabtei Stift Heiligenkreuz, A-2532 Heiligenkreuz im Wienerwald,
Tel. +43-2258-8703-0; Email:
information@stift-heiligenkreuz.at

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Welcome to the Cistercian Abbey of Heiligenkreuz!

Heiligenkreuz Abbey in the Wienerwald was

Here you will find two monuments by Giovanni

Reception and Visitor Information

you can see original glass from the 13th Century;

St. Annes Chapel

man in the white robe is Blessed Otto of Freising,

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