Schäftlarn

Formerly a Premonstratensian, now a Benedictine, abbey, situated on the Isar not far from Munich in Upper Bavaria. It was founded in 762 by the priest Waltrich and dedicated to St. Dionysius. Waltrich was the first abbot ; later (774-804) he was Bishop of Passau. In 955 the monastery was destroyed by the Hungarians who were then making marauding incursions into Germany. In the eleventh century it was a house of secular canons, of whom there were then many in Bavaria. In 1140 it was refounded by Bishop Otto of Freising as a Premonstratensian monastery under a provost. Little is known of the inner life of the monastery. In 1527 it was destroyed by fire. In 1598 the provostry was raised to an abbey, which continued to exist until 1803, when it was secularized. The church was made a parish church, the monastic buildings were sold and frequently changed hands. In 1845 they were brought by the Congregation of the English Ladies who established here a boarding school for girls. In 1865 Schäftlarn was bought by King Louis I of Bavaria for 92,000 guldens and in 1866 it was given to the Benedictines. At first the monastery was a priory, but it was raised to an abbey, 3 May, 1910. It has now thirteen fathers who conduct an educational institution for boys with a pro-gymnasium. The interior of the monastery church built 1733-64, is one of the best productions of the Munich school of architecture of the eighteenth century; the exterior is unimportant. The buildings, erected during the period 1705-21, are simple.