GÖTTWEIG.
- Benedictine abbey, on a hill known as the Austrian “Gralsburg,” in the diocese of St. Pölten, with a retreat house and 30 incorporated parishes (approx. 60,000 inhabitants).
S. Altmanno, bishop of Passau, founded in 1073, near the ruins of a Roman watchtower, a monastery for 12 regular canons; but toward the end of his life (he died in 1091), he called there the Cluniac Benedictines of St. Blasien. A convent of Benedictine nuns was also added, which lasted until the sixteenth century. The monastery, richly endowed, carried out extensive colonization during the Middle Ages and continued it later as well (agricultural and forestry development, and celebrated viticulture: the revenues from wine made possible the Baroque reconstruction of the monastery). As early as the twelfth century, seven churches existed on the mountain of G. During the Gothic period, G. undertook extensive building activity and was a bulwark against Lutheranism. A devastating fire on 17 June 1718 almost completely destroyed the monastery. G. Luca von Hildebrandt drew up the grandiose plan for its reconstruction, which could never be completed (1717–88). Nevertheless, G. is one of the richest and most extensive monastic complexes in Austria. It possesses a rich library, many incunabula, and extensive musical collections. From 1939 to 1945, during the total Nazi suppression, an “Ordensburg” was installed there. The learned abbot Goffredo Bessler (d. 1749) was famous; among other works, he published the Chronicon Gottwicense (Tegernsee 1732).