Engelszell Abbey

Engelszell was founded as a Cistercian house in 1293, dissolved by Joseph II, and refounded in 1925 by Trappists expelled from Alsace, becoming Austria's last Trappist monastery; with only four monks left, the order dissolved the community on 15 May 2023, and since October 2025 the Diocese of Linz has owned the abbey, much of it used by Caritas. The church was rebuilt between 1754 and 1764 and is rococo: Johann Georg Üblhör's stucco and work by Bartolomeo Altomonte, with the nave ceiling repainted by Fritz Fröhlich after structural damage around 1957, in a modern manner that is visibly not eighteenth-century. The monks supported the house by manual work, making liqueurs, cheese and, from 2012, beer approved as Trappist; since July 2025 a regional family has run the brewery, the liqueur making, the inn and the abbey shop, and the beer no longer carries the Trappist seal.

History

Bernhard of Prambach, Bishop of Passau, founded the abbey in 1293 as a Cistercian house, settled in 1295 by monks from Wilhering, its mother house; it declined in the Reformation and for a time passed into private hands, until Wilhering restored it from 1618. A fire on Easter Sunday 1699 ruined its finances, and in 1746 abbot Leopold Reichl set them right and rebuilt the church between 1754 and 1764, but in 1786 Emperor Joseph II dissolved the abbey, and its buildings served as a factory and a residence. In 1925 German Trappists expelled from Oelenberg Abbey in Alsace refounded it, it became an abbey in 1931 under Gregorius Eisvogel, and with only four monks left the order dissolved the community on 15 May 2023 (Wikipedia, Engelszell Abbey).

The main sights

• Austria's last Trappist house - refounded in 1925 by monks expelled from Alsace, dissolved in 2023.
• A rococo church - Üblhör stucco with a nave ceiling repainted in the twentieth century.
• The abbey beer - still brewed on site, no longer under the Trappist seal.
• Liqueurs - the long-standing product of the abbey's liqueur works.

When to go

April to October; the shop keeps its own hours. Half a day.

Before you go

Most of the abbey buildings are not open to visitors - the church, the inn and the shop are the parts to see. Since the monks left, the beer and liqueurs are made by a lay operator, so this is no longer a working Trappist house. Beer production is limited and can sell out. Photography inside is restricted.

Nearby

Passau is upstream in Germany; the Schlögener Schlinge is downstream.

Key facts