Buildings
The monastic buildings of the Cistercians were to be constructed, as closely as was possible, in the likeness of the mother house at Cîteaux. The entire monastery premises had to be surrounded by a wall. The main axis of the church had to be on an east-west line. The cloister, the "heart of the monastery", was to adjoin the southern front of the church. The chapter house and the common room had to be placed in the east section of the cloister. Upstairs in the eastern range was the monks’ dormitory, connected by stairs with the church and the cloister. In the southern section of the cloister lay the monks’ refectory, and in front of it, projecting into the cloister, a pavilion with a washing-fountain, called the "fountain-chapel". The lay-brothers’ refectory and dormitory were placed in the western range of the cloister, and the kitchen in the south-western corner. The section of the cloister next to the church was used as a lecture-hall and had to be furnished with a pulpit. This ground plan was also retained in the Baroque layout of Wilhering Abbey. The prestigious buildings, however, which had been planned to surround the outer court of the abbey, were meant as extensions.
Nothing remains of the original castle of Wilhering nor of any buildings erected by the monks of Rein. The monks of Ebrach, however, started the construction of a church in 1195 in the Romanesque style, repeatedy rebuilt in the following centuries; of this, there now remain only the portal and the two Gothic Schaunberg family tombs located on either side of the entrance by the western wall of the abbey church.
Originally, access to the church was forbidden to the public, in keeping with the wish of the Cistercians for seclusion. However, for the use of their tenantry they erected a special church, the so-called "people’s church", known from an old engraving in the cloister, which also shows the guesthouse by the road, the fish-pond, the gate-house with the monastery wall and the garden with the mill. Today the fish-pond, the guesthouse and parts of the gate-house still remain. The guesthouse is considered one of the oldest parts of the monastery buildings. It was the abbey inn until 1970, and now houses a museum of modern art exhibiting works of the painter Fritz Fröhlich. Along with the former wine-cellars and the brewery, which ceased operation around 1930, it is now separated from the main building complex by a road.
The present abbey buildings comprise (a) the medieval nucleus (the church, the cloister and the quadrangular buildings of the convent), (b) the extensions from the Baroque period (the abbatial suite, the domed wing, the stables, barns and farm buildings) and (c) the new buildings of the school erected after World War II. To the west lies the abbey park, open to the public, with its stock of exotic trees and the Baroque pavilion. Further on are the greenhouses of the horticultural nursery which also belongs to the abbey.
The prominent attraction of the abbey’s outer court is the west façade with the tower and, to the right, the abbatial suite. The tower was erected between 1735 and 1740 and consists of three storeys, which, due to their upward tapering, resemble an extended telescope. It is adorned with rich figural decorations. The plain round-arched Romanesque portal of the former 12th century church was integrated into the present Rococo church.
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