Gaming Charterhouse

Gaming Charterhouse (, also known as Kartause Maria Thron) is a former Carthusian monastery in Gaming near Scheibbs in the Mostviertel of Lower Austria.
The monastery was founded in 1330 by Albert II, Duke of Austria, who intended it as a dynastic burial place. He himself was buried there after his death in 1358, as was his wife Johanna von Pfirt (d. 1351) and daughter-in-law Elisabeth of Bohemiaalso known as Elisabeth of Luxembourg (1358–1373), daughter of Charles IV, Holy Roman Emperor, and sister of King Wenceslas IV of Bohemia; married 1366 - ie, at the age of eight - Albert III, Duke of Austria, but died childless at the age of 15 (d. 1373). The first community, from Mauerbach Charterhouse in Vienna, comprised a double complement, under a prior, of 24 monks rather than the usual 12, and the scale of the buildings from the beginning reflected the monastery's size.
Gaming Charterhouse received extremely generous endowments from its founder, including much surrounding land in the valley of the Erlauf, and the town and market of Scheibbs.
It was dissolved in 1782 in the reforms of Emperor Joseph II. In 1797 the bodies of the founder, his wife and daughter-in-law were removed to the parish church of Gamingthey were returned to the former abbey church in 1985, and in 1825 the monastery and estate, including large areas of forest, passed into private ownership. In 1915 it was bought by the abbot of Melk Abbey.
In 1983 the monastery premises, but not the remaining estates, were bought by an Austrian architect, Walter Hildebrand, who has since worked on the restoration. The renovated premises are partly occupied by a hotel and partly by a number of foreign Catholic universitiesincluding the Franciscan University of Steubenville (main campus in Ohio, USA) and the International Theological Institute, a papal institute for Roman Catholic theology. Since 2004 there has also been a museum, with displays of the history of Gaming Charterhouse and of the Carthusians in general. Recently a Greek Catholic (Byzantine) chapel has been set up here.
==Notes==
==See also==
*List of Carthusian monasteries
==Sources / External links==
* Kartause.at: Gaming Charterhouse church, with museum and universities 
* Gaming Charterhouse Hotel website 
* Monasterium.net: Kartause Gaming 
* Gaming Charterhouse: photographs
Category:Carthusian monasteries in Austria
Category:1380 establishments
Category:1782 disestablishments
cs:Klášter Gaming
de:Kartause Gaming
fr:Chartreuse de Gaming
sv:Klostret Gaming