page_title: Wilhering Abbey
section_title: Church
hierarchical_section_title: Wilhering Abbey / Church
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Kanzel der Klosterkirche Wilhering, Wilhering, OberösterreichEnglish: Pulpit of Wilhering Monastery Church, Wilhering, Upper Austria
context_page_description: Wilhering Abbey is a Cistercian monastery in Wilhering in Upper Austria, about 8 km from Linz. The buildings, re-constructed in the 18th century, are known for their spectacular Rococo decoration.
context_section_description: According to the German art historian Cornelius Gurlitt, "the abbey church of Wilhering is the most brilliant achievement of the Rococo style in the German-speaking world." It gives the impression that more decoration, colour, sculptures, paintings and stuccowork could not be found in a single place. The Baroque dream that heavenly light-heartedness and timeless happiness can be brought down to earth, a dream which in the Rococo period reached its nearly unrestrained climax, has come true at Wilhering. Moreover, all the individual elements are in harmony and seem to be connected in some way: the altars, the pulpit, the two organs, the choir stalls, the putti and the frescoes with numerous saints, with clouds and blue sky. These artists had a uniform feeling for style and taste.
  The ground-plan of the present church is the same as that of the old church from before 1733. Johann Haslinger, a little-known master mason from Linz, was entrusted with the building supervision by Abbot Hinterhölzl. This abbot engaged various freelance artists to carry out the programme for the decoration, which is recorded in a banderol in the ceiling fresco of the chancel: "Assumpta est Maria in caelum, gaudent angeli". 
  The well-known Baroque painter Martino Altomonte, who was over eighty during this commission, created the altar-pieces within six years. According to a Cistercian custom, the high altar-piece is dedicated to the Assumption of Mary. The two anterior altar-pieces, placed nearest to the high altar, refer to Mary’s work in the Benedictine (left) and Cistercian (right) Orders. The pictures on the two middle altars show the death of Saint Joseph (left) and the guardian angel (right). Both altar-pieces at the back are dedicated to the Fourteen Holy Helpers (die Vierzehn Nothelfer): the holy virgins to the left and the intercessors for agriculture to the right. The paintings represent Late Baroque Italian Classicism.
  The fresco painter was Martino Altomonte’s son, Bartolomeo. Although he was a lesser artist, he directed the greatest attention to frescoing the ceilings. In a way it was Bartolomeo’s endeavour to create a perfect heavenly illusion, the desire to create a "new Heaven", according to Saint John's vision in the Book of Revelation. According to the abbot’s wish, the frescoes had to be similar to those of the abbey at Spital am Pyhrn, showing Mary ascending to the glory of Heaven. The angels, the whole world, and the saints of Heaven were to take part in Our Lady’s triumph, assumption and coronation. Bartolomeo Altomonte succeeded in painting a fresco of more than 450 m2 (approximately 540 square yards). This extensive ceiling fresco is characteristic of the specific atmosphere in the church. The painting mainly shows saints related to the Cistercian Order, who are arranged in groups. The transition from fresco to plastic decoration is fluid. The richly gilded frames of stucco take up the liveliness of the picture and pass it on to the periphery of the vault. The transept shows frescoes praising the Virgin Mary in an allegorical manner. The idea is that grace will be heaped upon those who venerate Mary, and that all continents are united with her by the virtues of faith, hope, and charity.
  The fresco in the flat cupola of the crossing is a combined work by the Italian painter of architectural perspective, Messenta, and Altomonte. The picture is an allegory of Mary’s triumph over sin and the sinner’s due punishment, symbolized by mankind chained to the globe. The frescoes in the presbytery and below the organ-loft show angels playing musical instruments in honour of the Queen of Heaven. The fresco in the Grundemann Chapel is complementary to the altar-piece of the chapel, whose subject is the wiping out of the original sin by Christ’s redeeming blood. In the centre of the fresco there is the Christ Child being offered the instruments of Christ's Passion. 
  The Austrian stuccoer Franz Josef Holzinger of Sankt Florian was commissioned to do the stucco work (1739-1741). However, he was forced to interrupt his work by the War of the 
caption: Pulpit decorated by Johann Michael Feichtmayr and Johann Georg Ueblherr
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