WILHERING. — Cistercian abbey on the Danube, in the diocese of Linz (Austria).
It was a daughter house of Reun, of the line of Morimond. Before 1146, Ulrich and Colone of W., wealthy nobles, founded and endowed the abbey, situated on the Danube, which at that time ran among the forests of the Kürnbergerwald. As usual, the White Monks rendered themselves deserving of great works of reclamation, cultivation, and civilization. A tremendous fire destroyed a large part of the church and convent in 1733; but the steadfast efforts of the abbots and monks rebuilt the church between 1733 and 1740, and the convent between 1734 and 1835. Romanesque remains include the portal of the church and a few fragments of the cloister, recently rediscovered. The church, by J. Illasinger, austere in its façade with its tall bell tower, presents inside the finest examples of «Rococo», owing to the extraordinary harmony of all the elements: painted stuccoes, frescoes, movable altars, etc. The theme of the decoration is the life and glorification of the Immaculate Mary. Many artists collaborated on it, above all Bartolo, Andrea, and Martino Altomonte.
Many Gothic and Baroque tomb slabs are preserved. Notable features of the convent are the Library (230 manuscripts, 400 incunabula, 35,000 volumes), the refectory, the abbatial residence, and the Chapter House.
The abbey has pastoral care of 13 incorporated parishes, directs a secondary school and, for several decades, a branch
in Bolivia (Caupolican), for which it maintains extensive workshops for various trades, much renowned.