Collegiate Church Nonnberg (Kollegienkirche)

The Roman Catholic monastery church of Nonnberg Abbey may be seen from afar on Nonnberg, which is located on the outskirts of Salzburg’s old town.

The church is part of the Nonnberg Abbey complex, which is part of Salzburg’s UNESCO World Heritage Historic Center.

Excavations east of the church apse in 1934 yielded items from the first and second century AD.In 1006 the original monastery church burnt down. Heinrich II contributed significantly to the construction of the new Mariae Himmelfahrt church, which was finished in 1009.In 1043, the new crypt was dedicated.In 1423, the church and monastery were both destroyed by fire.The form of the previous church floor plan was preserved in the new edifice that followed.The modest St. John’s Chapel was erected over the monastery’s inner gateway in 1448.The crypt and choir were completed in 1475 after building began in 1463.The nave was completed in 1499 under the leadership of Master Hans and Wolfgang Wieser.In 1506-1507, the central nave was re-vaulted.In 1624, early Baroque chapels were erected south of the right aisle.Sebastian Stumpfegger erected and redesigned the church tower in 1711.

Mariae Himmelfahrt monastery church is a three-nave late Gothic basilica with a late Gothic crypt and a Romanesque tower on the west.The church is completed with a high gabled roof.A pent roof covers the aisles and incorporates side chapels in the south and a cloister wing in the north.The central choir and side choirs are the same height as the church’s nave.

Only the south and east sides of the structure are free.The chancel has lofty Gothic stained glass windows, three pointed windows in the main apse, and two in the side apse.Ogival slug windows are set above the chapels in the south and above the monastery wing in the north.The church tower on the west, behind the nuns’ choir, links to and is incorporated by the monastery’s cloister at ground level.To the south and east, a small monastic cemetery surrounds the church.

The Romanesque tower was constructed in the first part of the 12th century.Sebastian Stumpfegger built the tower in 1711 and gave it an onion top.The plaster frames separate the tower into two storeys.The round-arched twin windows were built in the late nineteenth century.

The southern entry porch, which was erected between 1497 and 1499, is vaulted with late-Gothic braided net ribs.The valley and column portions of the late Gothic pointed arch doorway are characteristic.Statues (or replicas) of Emperor Henry II, Mary with the Child Jesus, and Saints Rupert and Erentrudis stand on four octagonal pillars.Two pieces of the Romanesque predecessor gateway (about 1200) were put in the tympanum, a vine relief band and an enthroned Maria with child in a round arch relief, on one side with Saint John and Erentrudis, on the other surrounded by angels and the donor (shown as a devout nun).On little consoles in the Gothic gateway frame, there are sculptures of the Annunciation Angel and St. Mary.