Kastl Abbey

The founding of St. Peter's Monastery in Kastl likely occurred in 1103, though monastic tradition suggests 1098. Among the founders were Margravine Luitgard of Zähringen, Count Berengar I of Sulzbach, and Friedrich von Kastl with his son Otto. Bishop Gebhard III of Constance, Luitgard's brother, was also involved and sent monks from the reform monastery of Petershausen. The abbey quickly flourished, sending monks to settle Reichenbach am Regen Monastery as early as 1118. Plankstetten and Auhausen Monasteries were also likely settled by Kastl monks. The monastery gained wealth and influence, becoming the center of the Kastl Reform in the late 14th and early 15th centuries, which shaped numerous Bavarian monasteries. In 1413, Emperor Sigismund elevated it to an Imperial Abbey. In the 16th century, the monastery steadily declined and was dissolved in 1556 after the introduction of the Reformation in the Upper Palatinate. During the Counter-Reformation, the monastery was handed over to the Jesuits in Amberg in 1636, who renovated the monastic church in Baroque style. After the dissolution of the Jesuit order in 1773, the Knights Hospitaller took over the monastery in 1782, erecting the present early Classicist high altar. Following secularization, the monastic church became a parish church in 1808, and from 1825, the monastic buildings served as a district court. From 1958 to 2006, the buildings housed a Hungarian Gymnasium.