Göttweig Abbey, Lower Austria

Where Gumbo Was #457

This week’s mystery site was Göttweig Abbey, a Benedictine monastery situated some 80km west of Vienna. From its elevated position on a steep hill it overlooks the Danube and the city of Krems on the opposite side of the river. Congratulations to George G, who managed to solve the puzzle.

I am unable to offer any aerial shots of Göttweig, but these two images of a large model located in the abbey’s courtyard might provide a reasonable substitute:

The obelisk shown in the next two photos, however, is missing from the model.

It is actually a fountain – although when we visited the abbey (in September 2021) it was turned off. The fountain dates from the 18th century, as do most of the buildings that can be seen today. While there has been a monastery at the site since 1083, a catastrophic fire in 1718 all but destroyed what was there then. The rebuilding work stretched over several decades.

The small chapel pictured below is one of the few structures that survived the fire. It is thought to date from the 12th century, but has undergone various changes in the 900 or so years since then.

The ‘new’ buildings are fairly typical of the Austrian late baroque style of architecture. The overall design is said to have been inspired by the Spanish El Escorial – if you look at photos of the later, particularly shots taken from the air, you will immediately see similarities.

The rebuilding plans took account of the few elements of the monastery which remained more or less intact after the fire. In the photo below you can see an obvious difference between the buildings on the right and the left – those on the left are further survivors of the fire.

The gate pictured below leads to the abbey’s apricot orchard.

As I was taking this photo, I noticed this well-preserved vintage car just behind me:

It is a Renault Dauphine, from the late 1950s or early 60s. I had not seen one for many years and it reminded me how much smaller European cars used to be – especially when compared to the massive SUVs that were sitting along our modest hire car in the visitors’ car park. For the original purchaser of the Dauphine just having a car was probably enough of a status symbol.

However, I am digressing. Back to the topic: the centre piece of the abbey is its church.

The exterior is quite attractive, but does not prepare the visitor for the splendour that lies inside.

Over the centuries the church has had several different organs. The current one is relatively new, dating from the 1980s (when the abbey was celebrating its 900th anniversary).

The crypt contains parts of one of its predecessors.

It also houses the shrine of Bishop Altmann of Passau, thought to have been the abbey’s founder, who is venerated as a saint (although no official canonisation has ever taken place).

On an altar at the far end of the crypt you find the ‘Göttweig Pietà’, a 15th century wooden sculpture of Mary holding the body of Christ.

We visited Göttweig on a nice warm morning and the restaurant terrace was starting to fill up as we left. The abbey owns vineyards in the vicinity and their wines appeared to be very popular.

Because it was such a lovely day, we did not want to waste time indoors and thus gave the museum a miss. It is located in the ‘Imperial Wing’ of the abbey, which in itself is worth seeing. You can find some photos HERE

The area around the abbey offers many opportunities for pleasant walks, including strolls along the banks of the Danube.

We went on to Krems, which is a drive of only about 10 minutes and well worth a visit. The complete valley from Krems to Melk, which includes Göttweig, is designated by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site (under the name ‘Cultural Landscape Wachau’).

Incidentally, there is no admission charge for the abbey itself, but there is an entrance fee for the museum.