VORAU. – Monastery of Canons Regular of St Augustine of the Austrian Congregation, Diocese of Seckau (Graz), in eastern Styria.
Situated amid the forests of the Wechsel, it fulfilled important tasks of civilizing work from its very beginnings. Founded by Margrave Ottokar III of Styria by vow, after he had a son and heir, in 1163, it was confirmed by Conrad II, Archbishop of Salzburg, in 1168, and by Alexander III in 1170. At first the canons used the parish church, but after the fire of 1237 they built the abbey church, consecrated in 1257 and completed around 1300. Between 1660 and 1662, however, the church was entirely rebuilt in Baroque form, and in 1700–1704 it was frescoed and decorated with stuccoes (J. C. Hackhofer, M. Steinl); it is the finest example of Styrian Baroque. The monastic buildings too were then rebuilt, partly around 1625, while the prelature was reconstructed in 1692–94 and 1725–33. Particularly noteworthy are the Library, the refectory, and the imperial rooms, all frescoed and decorated with stuccoes (Hackhofer, Steinl, J. C. Mayr). The great restorers were the provosts (abbots) M. Singer (1649–62) and, above all, F. Leisl (1691–1717). The Library contains approximately 35,000 volumes, 220 incunabula, and 416 manuscripts, some of them very valuable. In recent times the canon Ottokar Kernstock (1848–1928), parish priest of Festenburg and a highly esteemed poet, achieved great fame. The monastery has 8 incorporated parishes and continues its traditions of sacred and secular culture.