Premonstraten Monastery Schäftlarn

The current building complex was built in 1707 based on the plans of Giovanni Antonio Viscardi. The former abbey and now St. Denis church is a wonderful example of the rococo architectural style. Its construction was started from 1733 to 1740 under Francois de Cuvilliés the Elder and was completed in the time of Johann Georg Gunetzrhainer and Johann Michael Fischer from 1751 to 1760. In the two years from 1754 to 1756 Johann Baptist Zimmermann decorated the church with stucco and paintings. Subsequently, and until 1764, Johann Baptist Straub created the altars and the chancel, in which there is also a formal garden – the recently restored prelate’s garden.

In the symmetrical monastery complex, the monastery church forms the axial center, and its plain masonry hardly gives visitors a glimpse of the glamorous Rococo-style furnishings of the interior. A rhythmic division of the single-nave nave was architecturally implemented by a large yoke in the center and two smaller ones to the east and west.

By staggering the bays, it was possible to achieve a different weighting of the partial rooms, according to their liturgical function. In addition, the entire backdrop directs the view to the choir. All this is something very special for a pier church.

The sensitively accentuated stucco of rocaille ornaments worked in by Johann Baptist Zimmermann, as well as the subtly colored bandelwerkt, are limited to the vaulting, as are the frescoes. The motif of the ceiling paintings is the foundation of Schäftlarn as well as the glorification of the founder of the order, Norbert of Xanten. Only because important court artists of Munich worked on the monastery church, a uniformly noble and courtly overall picture appears today, which stands out from the baroqueized sacred buildings of Bavaria from the 18th century.

FLORIAN HARTMANN