Spital am Pyhrn Abbey

The Spital am Pyhrn Collegiate Church is a former collegiate church in Spital am Pyhrn in Upper Austria, in the Kirchdorf an der Krems district in the Traunviertel region.

It is uncertain whether Emperor Henry II gifted the land on the Pyhrn to the Diocese of Bamberg. The acquisition probably dates back to around 1060. It is striking that there was a large farm at the later site of the collegiate church around 1128. But it was not there, but further north towards Windischgarsten, at a similar farm, that the first hospice on the path over the Pyhrn was founded by Otto I of Bamberg, which existed only for a short time. At that time, a Valentine's Church is also likely to have been built in Windischgarsten.

During the 3rd Crusade, Bishop Otto II of Bamberg founded a hospital in 1190 at the farm at the foot of the Pyhrn, which he handed over to a lay brotherhood. Through large noble donations in the 13th century, the manorial lordship soon encompassed large parts of the Windischgarsten and Stoder basin. The hospitaler was long an important Bamberg official. The hospital was converted into a collegiate church with a dean at its head in 1418 and experienced a great cultural flourishing in the late Middle Ages. The "Cathedral on the Pyhrn" achieved great wealth. The collegiate building burned down in 1502. After its reconstruction with the support of Emperor Maximilian I, the community of canons (common dormitory) was abandoned, and the collegiate church was structurally expanded as a result.

The local craft of stonemasons and master masons achieved its greatest importance under Master Giacomo Provino at the beginning of the 17th century, after he discovered the red and black marble quarry in 1590.

During the Reformation, several canons leaned towards Protestantism, and by around 1565, all inhabitants were Protestant. Under Dean Gienger - a canon of Vienna-St. Stephen - the re-Catholicization began, with the influence of the sovereign being very great. The collegiate church was elevated to a provostry by Pope Paul V in 1605. Subsequently, the number of canonries increased, and in the Baroque expansion from around 1650, generous collegiate complexes in a square shape were created. The collegiate administration was expanded in terms of personnel, and at the same time, the collegiate employees, including the dairy farm, were relocated. Therefore, the village of Spital grew significantly during this era. The basis of prosperity in the 18th century included four scythe factories in the village. From 1714 to 1730, Johann Michael Prunner designed the church in Baroque style (with frescoes by Bartolomeo Altomonte and stucco work by Domenico Antonio Carlone).

In 1807, the collegiate church was dissolved, and its possessions were transferred to the Benedictines under Berthold Rottler, who had already moved here in 1806 after the dissolution of the St. Blasien monastery in the Black Forest. However, they moved to St. Paul's Abbey in Lavanttal as early as 1809, and the Spital manorial lordship subsequently merged into the Religious Fund property. The collegiate church became a parish church. A district court operated in the collegiate building. On the night of October 25th to 26th, 1841, a fire damaged the collegiate buildings. When the Imperial and Royal Forestry Administration (the later Federal Forests) was expanded in the collegiate building during the Franz Josef era, Spital soon became a meeting point for aristocratic officials to enjoy their summer retreat.

At the beginning of 1945, the entire gold treasure of the Hungarian National Bank (33,000 kg) was stored in the crypt under the presbytery of the collegiate church. An exterior restoration took place from 1964 to 1967. From 1989 to 1997, the Spital/Pyhrn forestry operation was located in the collegiate church.

Today, the Austrian Rock Art Museum is housed in the restored Baroque rooms of the collegiate church.