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Founded: 1103Category: Religious sites in Germany
Historical period: Salian Dynasty (Germany)
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Kastl Abbey, dedicated to Saint Peter, was founded in 1103 or shortly before by Count Berengar II of Sulzbach together with Frederick and Otto, Counts of Kastl-Habsberg.
It was dissolved in 1563 in the course of the Reformation, but re-established as a Catholic monastery in 1625. From 1636 the building was used by the Jesuits, from 1773 by the Knights Hospitallers. Dissolved again in 1803, it was the seat of the Provincial Court until 1862.
From 1958 to 2006 the buildings housed a Hungarian secondary boarding school, now closed.
Anna, daughter of Emperor Louis IV, died here on 29 January 1319 aged three. Her body was not taken to Munich but was entombed in the monastery. In 1715 the body was removed from its tomb and kept in an oak cupboard. Later, preserved as a mummy, it lay in a shrine in the entrance hall to the monastery church, where it could be viewed. The body of the princess was recently returned to its tomb to protect it from light damage and a large photo is on display instead.
References:The Church of St Donatus name refers to Donatus of Zadar, who began construction on this church in the 9th century and ended it on the northeastern part of the Roman forum. It is the largest Pre-Romanesque building in Croatia.
The beginning of the building of the church was placed to the second half of the 8th century, and it is supposed to have been completed in the 9th century. The Zadar bishop and diplomat Donat (8th and 9th centuries) is credited with the building of the church. He led the representations of the Dalmatian cities to Constantinople and Charles the Great, which is why this church bears slight resemblance to Charlemagne's court chapels, especially the one in Aachen, and also to the Basilica of San Vitale in Ravenna. It belongs to the Pre-Romanesque architectural period.
The circular church, formerly domed, is 27 m high and is characterised by simplicity and technical primitivism.