Seitenstetten Abbey

Seitenstetten was founded in 1112 and rebuilt in the eighteenth century by Joseph Munggenast, and it is sometimes called the Ritterkloster, the knights' abbey, from a tradition that its founder's son died and the monastery was endowed in consequence. The abbey holds a Troger-painted marble hall, a library, a picture gallery with Austrian baroque painting, and a natural history and coin collection built up by the community over centuries. What draws most visitors now is the garden: the Hofgarten was replanted as a rose garden holding something like six hundred varieties, laid out in beds around the abbey walls, at its best in June. The abbey runs a large secondary school, so much of the complex is in daily use and closed to visitors.

What you actually see

• A rose garden of some 600 varieties - the replanted Hofgarten below the walls.
• Troger's marble hall - the painted state room of the baroque rebuilding.
• Library and picture gallery - the abbey's own collections, including baroque painting.
• A working school - much of the complex in daily educational use.

When to go

May to October; June for the roses. Half a day.

Honest expectations

Interior access is by guided tour at set times. Much of the abbey is a school and closed. Winter opening is minimal. The roses have a short peak - June is the month.

Nearby

Steyr is west; Melk and the Danube are north-east.