LILIENFELD. — Cistercian abbey in Lower Austria, diocese of St. Pölten; it has pastoral care of 17 incorporated parishes.
Leopold VI, duke of Austria, founded the abbey in 1202, but it was only in 1206 that the monks came from Heiligenkreuz of the Morimond line. The church, a grandiose construction in the transitional style (with three naves, transept, and a five-aisled choir), was dedicated in 1230 and has been preserved almost intact, as has the cloister (13th century). On the high altar is the Assumption, a canvas by D. Gran (1746), along with other canvases by M. Altomonte. The monastery was rebuilt during the 17th–18th centuries and has seven courtyards. In the Library, a Biblia pauperum from the 14th century is noteworthy. The suppression under Joseph II lasted barely a year (1789–90), while that of the Nazis lasted nearly five (1940–45).