Transforming

The Wilhering Abbey courtyard reflects what the monastery has stood for since 1146 – spirituality and community, culture and tradition, history and the present. Ulrich and Cholo von Wilhering used their inheritance to found the abbey and brought in the first Cistercian community. The monks moved with the first settlers to the newly cleared land in the Mühlviertel region. The connections to the nine ‘monastery parishes’ are still alive today. In addition, there are four monastery parishes in Lower Austria and five parishes in the diocese of Linz, which are looked after by Wilhering clergy. The exuberant Rococo church shines with frescoes by Bartolomeo Altomonte. Its reconstruction became necessary after arson in 1733. The Meierhof and Stiftshof were renovated or redesigned on the occasion of the 850th anniversary. Since then, a museum has told the story of the eventful history and spirituality of the place. Art plays an important role in Wilhering. Among other things, the abbey garden features a work by contemporary artist Daniel Spoerri. Balduin Sulzer, a contemporary monk at the monastery, original composer, musician and teacher, created numerous works at the abbey. The painter Fritz Fröhlich was not only connected to the abbey as a tenant of a studio. He decorated the abbey's banquet hall with ceiling frescoes depicting the ‘Ship of Fools’. A curious coincidence: the Latin name for Wilhering, ‘Hilaria’, translates as ‘the cheerful one’. In addition to Mary, whose Assumption is celebrated in the high altar, guardian angels play an important role in Wilhering. Their chapel in the entrance area of the church and the Lady Chapel, accessible via the cloister, have recently been redesigned.