Asbach Abbey

The foundation of Kloster Asbach, consecrated to Saint Matthew, took place before 1091 by Christina, the widow of Count Gerold von Frauenstein and Ering. In 1127, her endowment fell to Bishop Otto of Bamberg, who officially consecrated the monastery and appointed Friedrich von Sigenheim as its first abbot. The monastery was dissolved during the secularization in 1803. The monastery church became the parish church of the Asbach parish, established in 1806, while the prelature housed a school, and the remaining buildings passed into private ownership. Since 1976, the Kulturkreis Kloster Asbach has been dedicated to restoring the monastery buildings, which today house a museum. The monastery church was built between 1771 and 1780 in the early classicist style under Abbot Rupert II. Viola, following designs by François de Cuvilliés the Younger. It features ceiling paintings by Josef Schöpf from 1784, depicting the Transfiguration of Christ and the Assumption of Mary. The nine wooden altars were created by Anton Burchardt, the figures, pulpit, and tabernacle by Joseph Deutschmann.