Heiligenkreuz Abbey

Heiligenkreuz was founded in 1133 by Leopold III and has been occupied by Cistercians without a break since, which makes it the oldest continuously inhabited Cistercian house in the world - it survived the Reformation, Joseph II's dissolutions and both wars. Rein in Styria is four years older and is the oldest surviving abbey of the order, but its monks were forced out from 1941 to 1945, which is why the two houses hold different records rather than the same one. The buildings match that continuity: a Romanesque nave of the twelfth century with a Gothic choir added, a cloister of some three hundred columns with a nine-sided fountain house, and a chapter house holding the graves of Babenberg margraves including Leopold V, who took Richard the Lionheart prisoner. The community is large and young by monastic standards, runs a pontifical theological college, and sings the Latin office daily - a recording of which reached the popular charts in 2008. Visits are by guided tour and services can be attended.

History

Margrave Leopold III founded the abbey in 1133 at the request of his son Otto, later abbot of Morimond in Burgundy and Bishop of Freising, and its first twelve monks came from Morimond with their abbot Gottschalk; it was consecrated on 11 September 1133 and named for the Holy Cross. On 31 May 1188 Duke Leopold V gave it a relic of the True Cross, a gift to him in 1182 from King Baldwin IV of Jerusalem, shown since 1983 in the chapel of the Holy Cross, and the Babenbergs endowed the abbey richly as it founded daughter houses, among them Zwettl in 1138 and Lilienfeld in 1206 (Wikipedia, Heiligenkreuz Abbey).

What to look for

• A twelfth-century cloister - some three hundred columns and a nine-sided fountain house.
• Romanesque nave, Gothic choir - the church as it grew across two centuries.
• Babenberg graves - the margraves' burials in the chapter house.
• The sung Latin office - the daily chant of a large working community.

When to go

All year; office times are published if you want to hear the chant. Half a day.

Before you go

Access to most of the abbey is by guided tour at set times, mainly in German. It is a working monastery with enclosure areas closed. Services take precedence over visits.

Nearby

Mayerling is two kilometres away; Baden and the Vienna Woods are close.

Key facts