ZWETTL. – Cistercian abbey in the diocese of St. Pölten (S. Ippolito), in Lower Austria.
Heiligenkreuz (v.), of the Morimond line, it was founded by the knight Adamaro I of Kuenring in 1138, in the heart of the Waldviertel (the forest region), in a bend of the Kamp River, and did much for the colonization and civilization of these immense expanses. It flourished until the time of the Hussites, who devastated it; it declined during the period of Lutheranism but flourished again in the 17th and 18th centuries. It was harassed by Joseph II; it escaped oppression as a centre of culture and continues its high mission even today: it has pastoral responsibility for 15 incorporated parishes, maintains a theological school and a boarding school for choirboys.
The church, built on the site of the original Romanesque one, is early Gothic, with a «Hallenchor» and a three-naved transept of equal height, with 13 apsidal chapels; it is the work of a “master” Giovanni, under the influence of Clairvaux and Pontigny and of the French cathedrals. The cloister, chapter rooms and Fountain Chapel date from the 12th–13th centuries and constitute a grandiose mixture of late Romanesque and early Gothic. The rear part of the church, with its bell tower (90 m. high), is a majestic construction by J. Munggenast (1722–27), with a fine façade having a single bell tower. The interior of the church is decorated, stuccoed and frescoed in the Baroque style by various artists, including J. M. Schmidt, M. Altomonte and P. Troger. Magnificent organ (1730) by J. Egedacher. The choir stalls, pews and confessionals are highly valuable works by lay brothers (M. Markl and L. Maleg). The convent, with its six courtyards, the church, gardens and adjoining buildings, likewise forms a complex of great artistic interest and today presents itself as a Baroque reconstruction. Particularly noteworthy is the library hall, by Munggenast, with frescoes by P. Troger, as well as the refectory and the abbatial residence. In the Museum, noteworthy is the Madonna of Abbot Bohuslaus (1248–1258), a delicate French work. The Library contains more than 50,000 volumes and 420 manuscripts. Notable is Fr. Leopoldo Janauschek (d. 1898), an eminent historian of the Cistercian Order (Origines Cistercienses, Vienna 1877 ff.; Bibliographia Bernardina, ibid. 1891, and many contributions scattered through journals, etc.). The nearby city of Z. also preserves many monuments, such as two three-naved Romanesque churches, a Romanesque «Karner» (ossuary), the walls and many Gothic and Baroque houses.