Schoenbuehel Servite Monastery

The former Servite monastery in Schönbühel was founded in the 17th c by a pious aristocratic family who had converted to Catholicism. Their objective was to replicate the event of salvation that had unfolded in Israel, with Golgotha, the Entombment of Christ and the birthplace of Jesus in "subterranean Bethlehem."

However, it was as a pilgrimage church that the monastic church gained fame. Believers pilgrimaged there to seek help from Saint Rosalia, protectress against the plague. Following the Josephine church reforms, pilgrimage activity dropped off sharply. The monastery was finally closed in 1980 for a lack of new novices joining the community. (www.donau.com)