Wilhering Abbey

The monastery was founded in 1146 by the brothers Ulrich and Cholo of Wilhering. Following Ulrich's death, Cholo transferred the foundation to the Cistercian Order, after which thirteen monks from Rein Abbey settled there. Towards the end of the 12th century, the first monastic buildings and a church were erected. Through donations, particularly from the Counts of Schaunberg, the abbey soon acquired considerable wealth and played a significant role in the colonization of the Mühlviertel. It founded daughter monasteries such as Hohenfurth (around 1259), Engelszell (1293), and Säusenstein (1336). During the Reformation, Abbot Erasmus Mayer fled with the monastery treasury in 1544. In the course of the Counter-Reformation, Abbot Alexander a Lacu took over in 1587 and reformed the depleted monastery. A devastating fire in 1733 almost completely destroyed the abbey. Under Abbot Johann IV. Baptist Hinterhölzl, the church and the destroyed building wings were rebuilt.