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 then amid the forests of the Kürnbergerwald. As usual, the White Monks made themselves deserving of extensive works of land reclamation, cultivation and civilization. A huge fire destroyed a great part of the church and the monastery in 1733: but the tenacious work of the abbots and monks rebuilt the church, between 1733 and 1740, and the monastery between 1734 and 1835. Romanesque remains are the portal of the church and some fragments of the cloister, recently rediscovered. The church, by J. Illasinger, austere in its facade with the tall bell tower, presents in its interior the finest examples of "rococo," for the extraordinary harmony of all its elements: painted stuccoes, frescoes, movable altars, etc. The theme of the decoration is the life and glorification of Mary Immaculate. Many artists collaborated on it, among whom especially Bartolo, Andrea and Martino Altomonte.

Many tomb slabs are preserved, Gothic and Baroque. In the monastery, notable are the Library (230 manuscripts, 400 incunabula, 35,000 vols.), the refectory, the abbatial residence and the Chapter house.

The abbey has the care of 13 incorporated parishes, runs a gymnasium and for some decades a daughter house in Bolivia (Caupolican), for which it maintains vast workshops of various crafts, much renowned.

Bibliography5 works

BIBL.: Cottineau, II, coll. 3454-55; G. Dehio, Handbuch der deutsch. Kunstdenkmäler, part 2, Österreich, II, Vienna 1935, 625 (with plan); Die bildende Kunst in Österreich, edited by K. Ginhart, 5 vols., Baden 1936-39 (see indexes); E. Schaffran, Kunstgesch. Österreichs, Vienna 1948, passim; E. Tomek, Kirchengesch. Österreichs, 2 vols., Innsbruck 1935-49.

Giuseppe Löw

@incollection{ec12_wilhering, author = {Lów, Giuseppe}, title = {Wilhering}, booktitle = {Enciclopedia Cattolica}, volume = {XII}, pages = {1685--1686}, note = {Cited by column}, publisher = {Ente per l’Enciclopedia Cattolica e per il Libro Cattolico}, address = {Città del Vaticano}, year = {1954}, url = {https://azioneromana.com/article/wilhering} }

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