Monasteries and vineyard property
In the Lower Austrian part of the Danube region, known as the Wachau, viticulture as an agrarian form of economy was established to a large extent by monastic estates. From the 9th century onwards at the latest, numerous monasteries in Austria, Salzburg, Bavaria and Bohemia came into possession of vineyards in the Wachau by donation or purchase. Charters, urbaria and tax lists document the importance of these mostly far-off properties. Viticulture played a special role in this process. This is all the more remarkable because the distances between the monastery and the estates – the so-called “Lesehöfe" – were sometimes considerable, for example in the case of the Augustinian canons’ monasteries of Herrenchiemsee (Traunstein, Bavaria) and Höglwörth (Berchtesgaden, Bavaria) or the Benedictine monasteries of Prüfening (Regensburg, Bavaria) and Tegernsee (Miesbach, Bavaria) and the diocese of Freising. The estates served as an interface for the interests of both local and foreign actors. This is still visible today in the form of surviving buildings and historical documents and objects. To date, about 130 former estates of Lower and Upper Austrian, Bavarian, Salzburg, Styrian and Bohemian monasteries have been documented, but not all of them have survived in their architectural structure.
Particularly of interest are the interactions and practices in which institutions and individuals were just as involved as the material world. Research perspectives developed at the Institute of Realienkunde, Object Links – Objects link and Material(i)ties, provide a fruitful framework for these approaches. In addition, an international cooperation has been established with the project Stadthöfe – Monastic and Noble Courtyards in Medieval Towns as Interfaces of Town-country Relations, a sub-project of the Cluster of Excellence ROOTS – Connectivity of Society, Environment and Culture in Past Worlds, based at Kiel University.
The project will contribute to the research of the Wachau Cultural Landscape.
Wachauer Klosterhöfe Online. An interdisciplinary digital inventory
The aim of the sub-project Wachauer Klosterhöfe Online, funded by Land Niederösterreich, is to catalogue the monastery courtyards and their historical documents in order to establish a basis for an interdisciplinary analysis of the phenomenon. Regional history provides an important source of information that reveals details about earlier owners. Locally used place names such as Florianihof, Kremsmünsterer Hof, Nikolaihof, etc. allow first indications of the former owner. In addition to the information in the cadastral registers, municipal archives and house registers provide further information on the poperties’ historys. The basic information is collected and systematically made available in the digital inventory.
Duration of the project: 1. März 2021 – 30. März 2022
Our Partners
Dr. Peter Aichinger-Rosenberger, Niederösterreichisches Gebietsbauamt Krems
Doris Denk, Kulturamt Stadt Krems
Dr. Gerold Eßer, BDA Niederösterreich, Gebietsreferent Wachau
Ingeborg Hödl, Welterbegemeinden Wachau
Our Team
Simon Kuhn | Alarich Langendorf | Andreas Steininger