Rein Abbey (German:Stift Rein) is aCistercian monastery in Rein nearGratwein,Styria, inAustria. Also known as the "Cradle of Styria" ("Wiege der Steiermark"), it is the oldest surviving Cistercian community in the world.[1]
The monastery was founded in 1129 by MargraveLeopold the Strong ofStyria and settled by monks fromEbrach Abbey inBavaria under the first abbot, Gerlacus. It was the 38th Cistercian monastery to be founded. The previous 37 are all since dissolved, leaving Rein as the oldest extant Cistercian monastery in the world. The abbey has remained a Cistercian community ever since on the same site, except for the temporary exile of a few years duringWorld War II when the premises were confiscated by theNazis and the monks were evicted until they were able to return in 1945.
Rein was the mother house ofWilhering Abbey nearLinz in 1146, and later ofStična Abbey andNeukloster Abbey.
On 19 September 1276 the abbey was the scene of theRein Oath (German:Der Reiner Schwur), when the Styrian andCarinthian nobility pledged allegiance toRudolf of Habsburg,King of the Romans, thus furthering the establishment of theHabsburgs as rulers of Austria and the end of the rule of KingOttokar II of Bohemia.
From 1950 to 1990 the community at Rein also accommodated the exiled Cistercians ofHohenfurt Abbey in the formerCzechoslovakia, and during that time was known asRein-Hohenfurt Abbey, until the Czech monks were eventually able to return to the reopened monastery in the presentCzech Republic, nowVyšší Brod Abbey.
The abbey also accommodated overflow classes from a localGymnasium from the 1950s to the 1970s, and lent part of its outbuildings for the use of theInstitut für künstlerische Gestaltung, part of theTechnische Universität Graz. As of 2014, the Monastery has lent part of its outbuildings toBundesgymnasium Rein.
The abbey church and conventual buildings are ofRomanesque origin. At the beginning of the 17th century an upsurge in numbers required the expansion of the conventual buildings. The alterations, which involved the redevelopment of the oldcloisters, were carried out between 1629 and 1632 by the architect Bartholomäus di Bosio, who constructed theNeues Konvent with its courtyard andRenaissance arcading.
Under Abbot Placidus Mailly (1710-1745) it was decided to refurbish the church inBaroque style. The work, by the court builder Johann Georg Stengg fromGraz, was completed between 1738 and 1747. The frescoes, dating from 1766, were by Josef Adam von Mölk, and the painting on the high altar (of theAdoration of the Shepherds) of 1779, byMartin Johann Schmidt. Since 1786 the abbey church has also been the parish church. It was elevated to abasilica minor byPope John Paul II in 1979.
The buildings were damaged by a great flood in 1975.
In the summer of 2006 during restoration work in the Baroque choir chapel archaeological excavations were carried out by a team from theUniversity of Graz, and the foundations of the former Romanesquechapter house were discovered, as well as a number of graves, including that of the founder, Margrave Leopold I of Styria. The former Baroquesacristy was dedicated by the abbot as aLady chapel on 4 February 2007, since when the abbey's oldest madonna has been placed here.
TheGothic Chapel of the Cross, built 1406–1409, commemorates SaintEberhard of Salzburg, who died at Rein on 22 June 1164.
Other features of note include the abbots' gallery, containing portraits of all the abbots from 1129 onwards, St. Ulrich's church, the tomb of MargraveOttakar III ofStyria (son of the founder), and the monument ofErnest, Duke of Austria (d. 1424).
The abbey library, comprising more than 100,000 items, contains inter alia 390 manuscripts and 150incunabula, of which the best known is a 13th-century fragment ofParzival.
In 2007 the community consisted of ten monks and the abbot, Petrus Steigenberger, who was the 56th abbot since the foundation. As of 2014 the community consists of sixteen monks and the abbot,Christian Feurstein, who is the 57th abbot since the foundation.
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