Schloss Stainz

Geschichte

Schloss Stainz is a former monastery of the Augustinian Canons in Stainz in Styria, Austria. Today the Baroque complex belongs to the Counts of Meran and hosts two museum collections from the Universal Museum Joanneum.HistoryStainz Priory was a monastery founded by the Augustinian Canons in 1229 when Leutold I von Wildon, lord of the manor of Stainz, allowed a small church with a monastery attached to be established on the mountain where his castle stood. The monastery was settled by canons regular from Seckau Priory.The priory experienced its heyday during the early 16th century under provost Jakob Roselenz, under whom the community was reorganised and the church, previously neglected, was enlarged. The interior was later refurbished in the Baroque style with extensive stucco decoration. The church organ counts among the largest and most melodious in Styria and was restored in 1980.The monastery was dissolved in 1785 as part of the rationalist reforms of the Emperor Joseph II. The church however remained in use.