Admont Monastery Library

Largest monastery library in the world

The Admont Monastery Library in Admont, Austria is one of the great masterpieces of European Late Baroque. It combines various forms of art (architecture, frescoes, sculptures, writings, and printed works) into a cohesive unity, serving as a repository of knowledge spanning centuries.

It is a Benedictine Monastery. It was founded in the mid-11th century by Bishop Gebhard from Salzburg, endowed by St Henna von Gurk, Gräfin von Friessach (d 1045), and settled by Benedictine monks from St Peter’s, Salzburg under Abbot Isingrin.¹

Spectacular Website.

The ornate library (236 by 46 feet and 36 feet high) has seven ceiling frescoes by B. Altomonte (1776) and baroque carvings by J. T. Stammel (d. 1765); it holds 130,000 volumes, 1,100 MSS, and 900 early printed works. The archives, a natural history museum with a collection of insects, and an art museum with a 1,000-year-old collection are noteworthy. ²

The main impact is made by the Rococo bookcases, with gilt decoration and by the galleries that run along the wings at first-floor level. In 1774–6 Bartolomeo Altomonte painted allegories of the Arts and Sciences under the Patronage of the Church and Religion on the side and central vaults. The library contains 14 bronzed limewood sculptures , of which the most important are the ‘Four Last Things’ (Death, Judgement, Hell, Heaven) under the central dome.

1. A. Gerhardt. “Admont Abbey.” Oxford Art Online. Oxford University Press, 2003.

2. KRAUSE, A. "Admont, Abbey of." New Catholic Encyclopedia, 2nd ed., vol. 1, Gale, 2003, pp. 116-117.