Niederaltaich Abbey

Duke Odilo of Bavaria is traditionally credited with founding Niederaltaich Abbey in 741. Monks from Reichenau Abbey, led by Saint Pirmin, settled it. The first abbot, Eberswind, is considered the editor of the Lex Baiuvariorum. Under Charlemagne and Louis the German, the monastery's possessions expanded. In 848, the monastery gained the right to freely elect its abbot, and in 857, imperial immediacy, which it lost in 1152 to the Diocese of Bamberg. After a period as a collegiate church, the monastery experienced a golden age under Abbot Gotthard (996–1022). It suffered damage during the Thirty Years' War, and in 1671, it almost completely burned down. Reconstruction progressed slowly, with Carlo Antonio Carlone erecting the tower in 1698.