Name of Monument:

Lambach Abbey and Abbey Church dedicated to the Ascension of Maria

Also known as:

Lambach Parish Church dedicated to the Ascension of Maria

Location:

Lambach, Upper Austria, Austria

Date:

798 first documentary mention
1056 foundation and conversion of a former canonry into a Benedictine monastery (since the mid/late 1040s)
1639 church towers raised by 3 storeys (above the Roman base)
first half 17th century reconstruction of the destroyed abbey buildings after several wars (on and around the medieval building core)
1652–56 construction of the church
1652–55 painting for the (earlier) high altar
about 1655 stucco work in church
1656–61 paintings at side altars
1657 West wing marble portal
about 1660 South wing abbey building
1662 wrought iron grill in church
1698 fresco paintings in church finished
end 17th century West wing abbey building and library
1706–07 North wing abbey building
1708–09 stucco work in library and ambulatory
1716–17 high altar of church
about 1720 until after 1740 fresco paintings, ceiling and walls of refectory
1770 wall painting in theatre
probably 1878 towers’ onion-shaped helm roofs

Artists:

Church Architecture: presumably Filiberto Lucchese (1606–66); stucco work: probably Thomas Zeisel (n.d.); fresco paintings: for the most part probably Melchior Steidl (1657–1727); high altar: presumably Antonio Beduzzi (1675–1735); high altar painting: Joachim von Sandrart (1606–88); side altars paintings: Joachim von Sandrart and assistants; four statues at high altar: Lorenzo Mattielli (1687–1748); Holy Trinity, angels and group of figures in the clouds: Paolo d´Allio (1655–1729) and Diego Francesco Carlone (1674–1750); wrought iron grille: unknown (1662) Marble portal and statues West wing: Jakob Auer (about 1645–1706); stucco work in refectory North wing: Diego Francesco Carlone (1674–1750); fresco paintings of refectory ceiling and walls: Wolfgang Andreas Heindl (1693–1757); pulpit and tables in refectory (the latter today in the ambulatory): Balthasar Melber (n.d.); ambulatory stucco work: Diego Francesco Carlone (1674–1750); library fresco paintings: Melchior Steidl (1657–1727) and students; theatre stage wall painting South wing: Johann Wenzel Turetschek (n.d.)

Period / Dynasty:

Early, high and late Baroque

Denomination / Type of monument:

Ecclesiastical architecture

Patron(s):

The counts of Lambach had lived since 1035 on the place of the later abbey. They endowed their property in 1040 calling it Stiftung Lambach. In 1056 the (later saint) Adalbero, last count of Lambach and bishop of Würzburg, converted the endowment into a Benedictine abbey.

History:

As Lambach was situated on the then-important traffic connection from Vienna to Salzburg and to Passau (and along the salt´s transport route from the Salzkammergut), the (later) counts of Wels-Lambach chose the place for their representative residence. The last of them, (Saint) Adalbero founded a Benedictine abbey on the site.
During several wars the abbey was repeatedly plundered and partially destroyed. Under abbot Placidus Hieber von Greifenfels who was reigning in the Baroque era the economic situation became so efficient that he could start a brisk construction activity and buy a nearby castle and an urban domicile in Linz.
The last abbot in the Baroque era, Amand Schickmayr, had to save the abbey´s properties from being expropriated and the monastery from being dissolved by the so-called Reform-Kaiser Joseph II (the Benedictines then owned more than 1600 dwellings in Lambach and had huge revenues). In 1784 the monastery was abolished, the monks had to leave the abbey, to deliver all silver pieces and to sell much of the property in favour of the state coffers. Abbot Amand survived emperor Joseph II and was allowed to experience the monastery´s re-installation. However, the Benedictines had in the interim lost many possessions and art treasures.

Description:

After the church and the abbey buildings had been plundered during the Peasant´s War in the 1620s the abbot Placidus Hieber von Greifenfels (then only 25 years old) started building the monastery complex. He replaced the Roman church and Gothic annexes with a Baroque one, ordered paintings, statues and stucco work by famous artists and erected the abbey´s South wing with cells for the monks.
His successor abbot Severin Blaß tore down the fortification around the abbey buildings, built the West wing with the magnificent marble portal, installed the library and erected the Sacrament chapel and the chapter room above.
The most important builder in the Baroque era was the following abbot Maximilian Pagl. He finished the monastery complex, bought art works for the church, fitted the refectory and the ambulatory out, watched with interest the making of the garden, erected two chapels and – his major work – the Trinity church in Stadl-Paura with a children´s orphanage opposite.

As medieval architecture had become old-fashioned by the 17th century, abbot Placidus Hieber started the construction of the abbey buildings. The early Baroque church emerged on the Roman and Gothic substructure. Filiberto Lucchese, later architect of two emperors, was likely the church´s builder. It is said to be his very first work in the territory of present-day Austria. Even as the church towers´ lowest three storeys remained Romanesque, the church became – internally and externally – a purely Baroque building.

How Monument was dated:

Historical documents

Special features

Church (architecture and interior)

In the middle of the South wing

1639 church towers; 1652–56 church; 1652–61 paintings high altar and side altars; about 1655 stucco work vault; 1662 wrought iron grill; 1698 fresco paintings finished; 1716–17 high altar

Possibly Filiberto Lucchese: architecture; Joachim von Sandrart and employees: altar paintings; probably Thomas Zaisel: stucco work vault, unknown: wrought iron grill; Melchior Steidl: most of the fresco paintings; presumably Antonio Beduzzi: high altar

When a destroyed monastery complex was rebuilt after a war or a fire, they usually started with the church. Or with the church towers, as was done in Lambach, where they put new towers on the three-storey Romanesque base. After a modernization of the cloister and the monks´ cells they built up the church, which has survived as a stylistically pure Baroque building.
Corresponding with the façade’s double pilasters, there are double pilasters along the nave´s walls. They are crowned by a mighty continuous entablature as well as by fresco paintings and decorative stucco works in the vault. The bright yellow/ochre colour on walls and vault is original. It had been covered with a white layer for many decades and was only some years ago re-painted. The interior is magnificent: the high altar dedicated to the Ascension of the Holy Virgin was probably executed by Antonio Beduzzi, following Fischer´s von Erlach high altar model in the Mariazell basilica. Here and there dominate mighty columns; in Lambach everything is climaxing in the sculptural Holy Trinity scenery above. The huge paintings at the high altar and side altars were executed by Joachim von Sandrart and employees.

Façade West wing and portal

West wing

End of 17th century West wing; 1693 marble portal

Unknown: West wing; Jakob Auer: marble portal

At the end of the 17th century the West wing and its tower with curved hood roof were built. As one enters the monastery complex at this side, the wing has the main façade with an interesting pilaster order: on the middle part with the tower and on the right side of the building they are perfectly arranged. Two pairs frame the tower´s middle axis, three pairs of double pilasters and three single pilasters separate the five windows on the right. On the left side there are only three window axes, maybe there were at some time four, the distribution of the pilasters is – probably because of that – irregular. The interval between the three double pilaster pairs varies from pair to pair. The two single pilasters on the far left could be a double pilaster pair with a big space between, but they could also be two single pilasters framing a no longer existent window. Who knows if this pilaster order was the original idea of the architect(s)?
Hardly anyone will notice the pilasters´ irregular order as the façade´s artistic highlight, the marble portal with the crowning statue of the Holy Virgin and the Baby Christ, will captivate the viewer. Two saints (Adalbero and Kilian) are at their sides. The sculptor had a great sense of humour (the abbot must have had too): unimpressed by the holy society above, angels and putti are frolicking around abbot Severin Blass´s crest. A naughty one is playing with a mitre; two others help him to put it on. Every detail on the portal is finely carved out, the thing is as a whole a baroque masterwork.

Library and refectory

West wing, North wing

End of 17th century fresco paintings ceiling and stucco work library West wing; 1706/1707 construction North wing; 1708 stucco work refectory; 1709 pulpit refectory and tables (the latter now in the ambulatory); 1720 fresco paintings refectory

Library: Melchior Steidl: fresco paintings; (associated with) Wenzel Halwax and his workshop: allegoric scenes Refectory: Diego Francesco Carlone: stucco work; Andreas Heindl: fresco paintings; Balthasar Melber: pulpit and tables with inlay (now in the ambulatory)

Standing in the library one is astonished by the proportions. There are extensive fresco paintings on the ceiling which is measuring 21.4 m x 10.8 m. Though the room is only 4.8 meters high. It seems that there were originally two storeys as were in most libraries of that era. There are two architectural signs: a staircase leads to a lower situated small room (with a later drawn wall), and the adjacent library is in a later added wing. It was possibly built to replace the (earlier) lower situated one. – The topics on the ceiling´s paintings are very different: on the largest in the centre twelve-year-old Jesus can be seen in the temple. Around there are portraits of the four Fathers and the four Doctors of the Church, allegoric scenes, the dedication of the abbey to the Holy Virgin and the foundation legend of the Lambach, Göttweig and Admont abbeys by three friends – the later saints Adalbero and Altmann, bishop of Passau, and archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg.
The refectory on the ground floor of the North wing is a highly decorated room. Walls and ceiling are covered with stucco garlands of fruits and leaves, busts and reliefs, some of them gilded. On the freshly coloured fresco paintings (end walls and ceiling) one can see the monastery´s dedication to the Holy Virgin and biblical scenes: an angel serves Jesus food after he had fasted in the desert for forty days and forty nights, the rain of manna, Christ at the Pharisee Simon´s banquet and Moses knocks water out of the rock. Pulpit and tables (the latter now in the ambulatory) with inlay were done by a regional artist.

What remained from Marie Antoinette´s stay at Lambach abbey: a theatre decoration and a bed

Theatre; the bed is actually exhibited in the so-called Musician´s Corridor

1769–70 stage wall; n.d.: bed

Johann Wenzel Turetschek (stage wall), unknown artist (bed)

When Marie Antoinette travelled from Vienna to Versailles to become the wife of the later king Louis XVI, she had to go on a long journey. Since in these times there were no hostels along the roads, she travelled from monastery to monastery. When she arrived at Lambach abbey she was welcomed with many festive events. A monk had written a humorous stage play that was performed in the newly arranged theatre. Original stage decorations and the stage wall are still there. The latter is framing the stage with painted columns, statues (more figurines than statues, drawing the spectators´ eyes to the stage) and entablature. On the balcony on the right sits a man with a letter in his hands who is said to be the artist of the illusionistic painting. Through the curtain of the left door somebody is peeping out, which is typical before the beginning of a theatre piece to see how many spectators have arrived.
And there is still the bed in which the later queen of France had slept. It is decorated with a carving on the headboard and inlays on the footboard.

Selected bibliography:

Guby, Rudolf, Das Benediktinerstift Lambach in Oberösterreich, Vienna: Österreichische Verlagsgesellschaft Ed. Hölzel & Co., between 1925 and 1929.
Guldan, Ernst, Wolfgang Andreas Heindl, Vienna, Munich: Verlag Herold, 1970: 48, 55–59.
Lang, J., Deinhammer, P., and Trumler, G., Lambach. Das Tor zum Salzkammergut. Mit Stadl-Paura und Edt, Vienna: Brandstätter Verlag, 2016: 7–24.
Luger, Walter, Die Benediktiner-Abtei Lambach, Linz: Oberösterreichischer Landesverlag, 1978.
Marktgemeindeamt Lambach (ed), Lambach. 950 Jahre Stift. 640 Jahre Markt, Lambach: Marktgemeindeamt Lambach, 2006: 35–47.

Citation of this web page:

Gabriele Liechtenstein "Lambach Abbey and Abbey Church dedicated to the Ascension of Maria" in "Discover Baroque Art", Museum With No Frontiers, 2024. https://baroqueart.museumwnf.org/database_item.php?id=monument;BAR;at;Mon11;42;en

Prepared by: Gabriele Liechtenstein
Copyedited by: Janice MedinaJanice Medina

Janice Medina is an artist and educator based in Upstate New York. She studied interior design at Syracuse University and obtained her M.S. in Building Conservation in 2008 (Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) and Master of Fine Arts in 2019 (University at Albany).

Janice is a former participant in the US/ICOMOS International Exchange Program and she has taught courses in the history of design and historic preservation. Her artwork is influenced by her experiences in historic preservation, as well as by building materials and the natural environment.

Janice has participated as a copy-editor with Museum With No Frontiers since 2019. In this role she has had the opportunity to work on a variety of projects including Discover Islamic Art, Discover Baroque Art and Discover Glass Art.

MWNF Working Number: AT 42