Altomünster Abbey

The origins of the monastery date back to before 760, when the Irish monk Alto founded a hermitage here. Around 970, a Benedictine monastery, dedicated to Saints Peter and Paul, was renewed by the Welfs on this site. In 1056, Benedictine nuns from the burnt-down Altdorf Monastery moved to Altomünster. From 1488, the monastery developed into a double monastery when the Order of the Most Holy Saviour, founded by Saint Birgitta of Sweden, moved in. The monastery church was then dedicated to Saints Alto and Birgitta. In the 16th century, under Prior Johannes Palgmacher and Abbess Ottilia Öffler, resistance against the Reformation solidified. The Thirty Years' War brought great hardship to the monastery. In the 17th and 18th centuries, the monastery experienced a phase of Baroque piety.