Nonnberg Abbey

Stift Nonnberg was founded around 714 by Rupert of Salzburg with his kinswoman Erentrudis as first abbess, and Benedictine nuns have lived there without a break since, which makes it the oldest continuously occupied convent north of the Alps. It sits on the shoulder of the Festungsberg below the fortress, reached by steps from the old town. The church is late Gothic, rebuilt after a fire in 1423, with a Romanesque west portal, twelfth-century frescoes in a side chapel and the tomb of Erentrudis in the crypt. Maria Kutschera entered as a novice here before leaving to work for the von Trapp family, and the abbey appears in The Sound of Music, though the film was shot elsewhere for the interiors. The nuns' choir is enclosed and not open.

History

Rupert of Salzburg founded the convent around 712-715 below the Festungsberg and the ruins of Roman Juvavum, with Erentrudis, his niece or sister, as first abbess; she has been honoured as Mother of Salzburg since 1624 and lies in the crypt. The Bavarian dukes Theodo and Theodbert endowed it, it became independent of its founding house in 987, and its nuns, all of noble birth until that rule was dropped in 1848, held estates up the Salzach. After a fire around 1006 Emperor Henry II helped rebuild the church, attending its consecration in 1009 with Cunigunde, the Benedictine rule came under Archbishop Conrad I early in the 12th century, and after another fire in 1423 the church was rebuilt between 1464 and 1509 (Wikipedia, Nonnberg Abbey).

Highlights

• A convent occupied since 714 - the oldest north of the Alps, without a break.
• Late Gothic church - rebuilt after 1423, with a Romanesque west portal.
• Twelfth-century frescoes - in the side chapel, among the oldest in Salzburg.
• The Maria von Trapp connection - the abbey where she was a novice.

When to go

All year; morning for the sung office. An hour.

What to expect

The convent is enclosed - only the public part of the church is accessible, and it is small. The steps up are steep. Film visitors expecting the movie's cloister will not find it; interiors were sets.

Nearby

The Hohensalzburg fortress is above; the old town is at the foot of the steps.

Key facts