Gleink Benedictine Abbey

The Gleink Benedictine monastery in Steyr, Upper Austria, is a former Benedictine monastery.

The overall impression of the monastery is a result of the significant monastic construction movement of the Austrian Baroque in the second half of the 17th century and the beginning of the 18th century. This church construction represents three separate times.

The Romanesque era is the first to be mentioned: two altars were erected in 1223, and the church was consecrated in 1273.The core of the basilica nave, with the exception of the eastern bay, undoubtedly comes from this period.The latter widens to form a vast trapezoid-shaped Gothic choir.The proportions of the nave (width to height) are relatively steep, with a ratio of 1:2.The floor plan was most likely created with two square nave bays on the bound system.It is uncertain if the Romanesque core walls of the square western tower, which corresponds to the breadth of the southern aisle, exist.

The second phase of construction is in the Gothic style, with a church dedication in 1436 that includes all of the altars and chapels.The nave was totally transformed to Gothic style, and the choir was reconstructed from the ground up.From the gothicization of the nave in the central nave above the baroque vaults, the tops of gothic windows in the eastern half and the commencement points of gothic vaults in the western half have been kept.The core walls of the choir, with buttresses and the top of a finely formed window, are from the 15th century.

In the mid-seventeenth century, the Baroque era started.Abbot Augustin Kausler (1648-1658) had the inside of the church renovated.During the administrations of abbots Cölestin Pestaluz (1658-1678) and Rupert I. von Kimpflern (1678-1708), the church received its modern look.Under the previous abbot, the church tower (43 m tall with an onion dome) was also raised.Abbot Rupert II Freysauf von Neudegg (1709-1735) finished the final construction: the church was painted in 1709, the gateway in 1714, and the organ in 1732.

The church’s last renovation was completed in 1954.Between 1981 and 1994 (with breaks), the church and monastery buildings were extensively renovated.