St. Pölten Cathedral

The Dom zu St. Pölten is a cathedral church that has served as the cathedral of the Diocese of St. Pölten since 1785.It served as the monastery church of the St. Pölten Augustinian Canons’ Monastery until its dissolution in 1784.The cathedral and parish church of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary are part of the St. Pölten deanery.Despite the well-preserved late Romanesque core, the structure looks to be baroque and is classified.

History

The roots of today’s St. Pölten Abbey (St. Hippolytus) and hence the cathedral may be traced back to approximately 790.During this period, the brothers Adalbert and Otakar are reported to have established a secondary monastery in St. Pölten from their Tegernsee monastery.The Benedictines also brought the Hippolytreliquien to St. Pölten, which gave rise to the city’s current name.The diocese of Passau has possessed the monastery since 828.The missionary work that originated there is said to have been predominantly in the Great Moravian Empire, with the church on Pöltenberg in Znojmois claimed to have been founded from there.

The monastery was nearly totally destroyed when the Magyars arrived in the year 907.It was reconstructed only after the Battle of Lechfeld in 955.The monastery was referenced in writing for the first time in 976, in a text from Emperor Otto II to Bishop Pilgrim of Passau.It was turned into an Augustinian monastery in 1081 by Bishop Altmann von Passau and later held the patronage of St. Peter; in the 12th century, the main altar was dedicated to St. Stephen and Hippolytus.

As the western construction, a three-aisled, transeptless church with twin towers was erected around 1150, and it was considerably renovated following a fire between 1267 and 1280.Bishop Gebhard dedicated this church in 1228 in honor of the Assumption of the Virgin Mary, the cathedral’s patron saint to this day.A severe fire swept across the city in 1512, destroying the north tower, which was never rebuilt.

The cathedral’s present image was developed in the 17th century.The current diocesan building was erected in the early baroque style after a fire in 1621.Under Provost Johann Michel Führer, the monastery reached its pinnacle in its architectural history at the time.He was enthralled by the high Baroque beauty of nearby estates such as Melk Abbey and found a like-minded companion in the city’s Jakob Prandtauer.The planned renovation would add a second story to the diocese building, and the outside of the church would feature a three-tower portion (similar to Seitenstetten Abbey), with the present tower in the middle.This idea was thwarted because Führer overreached himself financially, and the monastery was nearly insolvent when he quit in 1739.Only the tower was elevated and given a new dome, in addition to the extensive remodeling of the whole interior, mostly by Daniel Gran and Bartolomeo Altomonte.

Joseph II dissolved the monastery in 1784.On January 28, the following year, Pius VI. issued the papal bull Inter plurimas, which authorized the construction of the bishop’s seat (cathedral) of the newly established diocese of St. Pölten.

The Catholic patriotic People’s and Press Association for Lower Austria, formed in 1873 by pastor Josef Kinzl, produced the St. Pöltner Bote. NON and the Lower Austrian Press House grew out of this.

Architecture

The outside facade’s floor layout is mostly made up of the structure built about 1150.After a fire between 1267 and 1280, it was significantly rebuilt in the late Romanesque style as a three-aisled, transeptless church with twin towers as the western construction.

The cathedral church is immediately attached to the diocesan building, and the cloister adjoins the church’s north side.Despite the substantial preservation of the late Romanesque architectural framework, the magnificent south tower with its double onion dome and the dome lights on the south aisle are baroque in design.The late Romanesque building’s apse and south facade have been intact.

Both towers contain corner ashlars, with the exception of the two bottom floors of the south tower.The cathedral’s main entryway, with skylights and a springing pediment, is located on the western facade.On the level of the second floor, there is a statue of a saint on either side of the portal: Hippolytus on the left and Augustine on the right.

The interior of the church was designed in the Baroque style by Jakob Prandtauer, Joseph Munggenast, Daniel Gran, and Bartolomeo Altomonte.Thomas Friedrich Gedon created some of the ceiling frescoes.The exit to the bishop’s crypt is located in front of the sanctuary steps, where the diocesan or auxiliary bishops of St. Pölten Memelauer, ak, Krenn, and Fasching are buried.

Jakob Prandtauer designed the spectacular high altar during the cathedral’s baroque refurbishment in 1722.Tobias Pock created the altarpiece depicting the Ascension of the Virgin Mary in 1658.

St. Pölten, Austria