Kremsmünster Benedictine Abbey

The church, originally a Romanesque-Gothic building of the 13th C., was remodeled in Baroque style in 1709-31. The tall and light interior is decorated with stucco-work and frescos. The high altarpiece by J. A. Wolf portrays the Transfiguration of Christ. On the side altars can be seen impressive figures of kneeling angels by Michael Zürn the Younger, and those of standing angels, also by Zürn, on the altars along the walls of the nave. On the right near the entrance can be found the Gunther Grave, a stone tablet with sculpted figures (c. 1300); legend has it that the abbey was built on the spot where Gunther, the son of the Bavarian Duke Tassilo, was killed while hunting.

The principal feature of the abbey is the Treasury, accessible from the transept of the church. On display there is the valuable Tassilo Chalice (Tassilo-Kelch) of about 780, a gilded copper vessel, one of the most beautiful examples of the medieval goldsmiths' art and portraying Christ and His Disciples and other scenes on its richly-decorated surface. Also exhibited are the Tassilo Candlesticks.

The buildings we see today were erected in the 17th and 18th C. The Imperial Hall (Kaisersaal) dates from 1685. The magnificently appointed library (1675) above the refectory contains, among its 100,000 volumes, the Codex Millenarius, a valuable eighth C. manuscript of the Gospels. The library also houses an exhibition of musical instruments.

Of interest is a symmetrically balanced group of five fish ponds (1691), surrounded by arcades and decorated with mythical figures.

The Observatory (1748-59), 50m/165ft high, contains natural history collections and a cabinet of anthropoligical and folk art exhibits dating from the turn of the century. There is a chapel on the upper floor.

The Austrian writer Adalbert Stifter was a pupil from 1818-26 at the school near the observatory. Stifter was an acknowledged master at describing nature.