Nonnberg Abbey
Encyclopedia
Salzburg
-Population development:In 1935, the population significantly increased when Salzburg absorbed adjacent municipalities. After World War II, numerous refugees found a new home in the city. New residential space was created for American soldiers of the postwar Occupation, and could be used for...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
.
It was founded ca. 714 by Saint Rupert of Salzburg
Rupert of Salzburg
Rupert of Salzburg is a saint in the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches and a founder of the Austrian city of Salzburg...
and is the oldest women's religious house in the German-speaking world. Its first abbess was Saint Erentrudis of Salzburg
Saint Erentrude
Saint Erentrude is a virgin saint of the Roman Catholic Church and was the niece of Saint Rupert of Salzburg. Her date and place of birth are unknown, but it may be presumed that she was born in present-day Germany or Austria, in the latter part of the 7th century...
, who was either a niece or a sister of Saint Rupert.
The abbey's endowment was provided by Theodebert, Duke of Bavaria, and augmented by Emperor Henry II
Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor
Henry II , also referred to as Saint Henry, Obl.S.B., was the fifth and last Holy Roman Emperor of the Ottonian dynasty, from his coronation in Rome in 1014 until his death a decade later. He was crowned King of the Germans in 1002 and King of Italy in 1004...
, who was also Duke of Bavaria.
The abbey was independent of the founding house from 987 and was re-built in about 1000. This building was largely destroyed in a fire of 1423. Reconstruction took place between 1464 and 1509. In 1624 the church was enlarged by the addition of three side chapels. A refurbishment in the Baroque
Baroque
The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...
style took place in the 1880s.
Maria von Trapp
Maria Augusta von Trapp , also known as Baroness Maria von Trapp, was the stepmother and matriarch of the Trapp Family Singers...
, later Maria Augusta von Trapp, who was a postulant in the abbey after World War I
World War I
World War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
and whose life was the basis for the film The Sound of Music
The Sound of Music (film)
Rodgers and Hammerstein's The Sound of Music is a 1965 American musical film directed by Robert Wise and starring Julie Andrews and Christopher Plummer. The film is based on the Broadway musical The Sound of Music, with songs written by Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II, and with the musical...
, the abbey has acquired international fame.
See also
The Abbey was recently selected as main motif for the Austrian Nonnberg Abbey commemorative coin minted on April 5, 2006. This was the first coin of the series "Great Abbeys of Austria". It shows the Benedictine convent of Nonnberg Abbey. On the hilltop in the background, the castle of HohensalzburgFestung Hohensalzburg
Hohensalzburg Castle is a castle in the Austrian city of Salzburg, atop the Festungsberg mountain. Erected at the behest of the Prince-Archbishops of Salzburg, it today with a length of and a width of , is one of the largest medieval castles in Europe....
and the Kajetaner church can be seen.
External links
Literature
- Franz Esterl: Chronik des adeligen Benediktiner-Frauen-Stiftes Nonnberg in Salzburg, Salzburg, 1841 (at Google Books, in German)