• Garten im Stift Klosterneuburg
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A thousand stories in the gardens of the centuries

A garden tour which begins in the treasure chamber. What is the difference between a baroque garden and an English landscape garden? Why is there a Chinese pagoda in the monastery garden?  And from where can you get a glimpse of paradise? Find the answers to all this and discover a lot more in the gardens of Klosterneuburg Monastery. One place.  A thousand stories.

At the beginning was an elderberry tree or “Holler” as it is known in Lower Austria. It was in such a tree that the precious bridal veil became caught which Babenberg Margrave Leopold III spent nine years looking for. At the spot where he found it he built the monastery in 1114. This is how the legend goes.

Blick vom Klostergarten auf das Stift
Klostergarten
Garten im Stift Klosterneuburg
Baroque quotations

The elderberry wood which is kept in the treasure room originates, as we know today, from the 17th  century. The monastery founder, Leopold III, was named a patron saint in this period under Emperor Leopold I.  His son, Emperor Charles VI had the idea of converting the medieval monastery into a monastery residence and creating a level baroque garden in front of the Sala terrena. Today, a contemporary interpretation of the baroque garden is reminiscent of this.  The original project was never realised as an up to 40 metre supporting wall with mounds would have had to have been built around the site.  In the end the monastery was built high up above the Danube. Up until the river’s correction in the late 19th century it was more or less on the doorstep, today the river is about a kilometre away behind riparian forests. 

At a glance

  • Natural and cultural gems
  • Family tours
  • Special programmes e.g. Forest bathing in the monastery’s forests
  • Fairytale stories in the Danube garden 
  • Full listings on www.stift-klosterneuburg.at
  • opening times: daily 9 a.m. to 6 p.m
Pond garden with lily

Overgrown walls, old fruit trees, almond trees - this is all in the pond garden. Formerly the site of the fish ponds which provided food for the monastery.  Here you will also find the flower bed in the form of a lily - the emblem of the order of the Augustinian canons.

Garten im Stift Klosterneuburg
Klostergarten
Blick vom Klostergarten auf das Stift
Vor der Orangerie
Klostergarten
Stift von außen
“Gardens of the centuries”

Just as our relationship to nature changes, so do the gardens. Every era is reflected in its garden art and this can be seen very clearly in Klosterneuburg. Whilst the baroque period had formal gardens with geometrical shapes which were symmetrical and clearly structured, the English landscape garden is the opposite. And this can be seen first hand in the 12,000 square metre Klosterneuburg convent garden. Here visitors see a seemingly natural landscape but there is also a surprise behind every corner. Formal pruning is no longer used and the poetic effect is at the centre. A complete work of garden art with references to architecture, literature and the visual arts. 

Decorative structures and garden rooms

The convent garden incorporates winding paths, extensive lawns, ponds and so-called decorative structures for example a reproduction of a Chinese pagoda and Jacob’s well.
There is a herb garden with many healing herbs near the well and this forms one of the numerous so-called “Garden rooms”: based on the English landscape garden, the garden area is structured with deciduous trees and conifers. The trees and shrubs here range from a gingko, plane, boxtree and acorn to a bamboo grove.

Vor der Orangerie

The most important thing for visitors is to take a guided tour, because only then can you get into the convent garden and take a look into paradise.

Insider tips from Alexander Potucek, art historian in Klosterneuburg Monastery
What does that mean?

If you take a tour you will see the innermost area of the monastery, the cloister. And from here you can see through a window in to so-called paradise. The cloister garden was created based on medieval sources and the four areas into which it is divided correspond to the four paradise rivers of the Garden of Eden.  All the plants which grow here have special significance in Christian symbolism.  And they also flower at different times from the Christmas rose in February to the marigold and hollyhock in autumn.

Any more tips?

The winding Renaissance hedges in the Leopoldi-Hof are worth taking a closer look at. 

DID YOU KNOW...?

For more than 900 years, the Klosterneuburg Monastery Wine Estate has been not only the oldest private winery in Austria but also one of the largest with 108 hectares of vineyards.

Any questions?

Christian Enzinger from Klosterneuburg Monastery is happy to advise you!

Stift Klosterneuburg
Stiftsplatz 1
3400 Klosterneuburg

+43 2243 411-251 groups@stift-klosterneuburg.at learn more