The architectural history of the Charterhouse at Mauerbach K. Neubarth

The architectural history of the Charterhouse at Mauerbach

The Charterhouse, or Carthusian monastery, at Mauerbach is one of the largest and most important monuments in Lower Austria. The monastery, which is located in the Vienna woods, was founded in 1313.
The historic source material about the monastery, especially the establishment and funding of the monastery, has been comprehensively described by Jolanda Hantschk in 1950. The layout of the monastery church has long been identified as belonging to the gothic style, and the cloister of the same period is recognizeable from the outlines of the attached piers. This leads to the supposition that the main buildings of the enclosure had already been completed in the first quarter of the14th century. Restoration work on the building and archaeological finds indicate that the medieval complex, which had undergone renovation in the 17th century, covered the same amount of ground as that which remains at present.



Recent analyses of masonry indicate that parts of the polygonal surrounding wall are late medieval, as are other parts of the building in the South and East tracts. It can therefore be assumed that, after a dominant first phase of construction immediately subsequent to the monastery's establishment, those early buildings were only adapted to contemporary needs over the next two centuries. The fateful First Turkish Siege of 1529 and the earthquake of 1590 in nearby Neulengbach, which nearly led to the dissolution of the monastery, necessitated a period of new construction and reorganization beginning in 1615. The forceful personality of the Prior Georg Fasel and a significant architect whose name was unfortunately not recorded, were instrumental in the design of a new layout which expanded beyond the severely-damaged walls. A strictly functional design was adapted to the daily and seasonal needs of monastic life.

The outline of the actual monastery was conceived in a strictly axial symmetry. The ideal axis would, in fact, cut through the spring house, the mortuary chapel and the monastery church, metaphorically representing a monk's life from the waters of life through death (the monastery's cemetery) into resurrection at the Holy of Holies. The community areas - the priory, refectory, chapterhouse, library, main sacristy and the sacristan's cell, as well as several small chapels - were approached through this arm of the cloister. The other three arms, making up the quadrant, led to the monks' cells.





By raising the stream-side parts of the building by one story it was possible to have all the monks' passages on one floor. The lower floor was reserved for lay brothers. Only the Prälatenhof, the Prelate's and the Imperial apartments arranged about a quadrangle, jut out of the main floorplan, attached to one corner of the cloister. Two profusely ornamented portals with highly-detailed heraldic imagery emphasize the importance of this entry to the Imperial apartments. This early Baroque building phase lasted well into the second half of the 17th century. Around 1675 Prälate Werner (despite the protests of the General Chapter of the Carthusians, the priors of the Lower Austrian charterhouses were elevated to Prelate on the specific order of Emperor) showed off the completed Baroque monastery in a splendid detailed engraving.

Almost all the roofs and wooden ceilings appeared to have been burnt in the second Turkish siege, leaving only the early Baroque vaulting of two chapels untouched. All other plasterwork was replaced during the period between 1685 well up into the second half of the 18th century. First the monastery church was decorated with richly sculptural plasterwork. Subsequently, the Imperial apartments (re-done in the first decade of the 18th century), the Prelate's Rooms and the Refectory were, together with the renovations to the facade of the monastery church, the last major construction works of the Charterhouse at Mauerbach.

In 1782, Mauerbach was chosen as the first monastery to be dissolved by Emperor Joseph II and was turned into a home for the aged and incurably ill, run by the city of Vienna. Lodging over 800 inhabitants necessitated substantial structural changes. As well as the irrevocable loss of ten altars and the entire interior decoration of the Prelate's quarters, the richly stuccoed ceilings of the Library and Refectory were destroyed. The lay brothers' church was completely separated from the Monks' choir, having been divided by the erection of two intermediate floors, and was converted into an infirmary. The library was also vertically divided by the addition of an intermediate floor. Three arms of the large cloister were divided into sections and turned into large dormitories, which were reached by a secondary corridor system created by breaking through the cell vestibules.

After 1945 the Charterhouse was used as an asylum for over 100 homeless families, which necessitated further reconstruction to create smaller living units.

As a result of the 1961 Concordat between the Roman Catholic Church and the Austrian State, the religious order fund which had survived to that point was dissolved and the Charterhouse was transferred to the Republic of Austria. The Bundesgebäudeverwaltung (State Ministry of Building Administration) assumed responsibility for construction and administration. The Bundesdenkmalamt (Austrian Federal Office for the Care of Monuments), which has been the sole user of the Charterhouse since 1994, has conceived a plan to use the buildings for monuments preservation training, thus fulfilling the statutory requirements.

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