Prüfening Abbey was a Benedictine monastery on the outskirts of Regensburg. Since the beginning of the 19th century it has also been known as Prüfening Castle (Schloss Prüfening). Notably, its extant dedicatory inscription, commemorating the founding of the abbey in 1119, was created by printing and is a unique document of medieval typography.
The monastery is situated on the western edge of the town of Regensburg and was founded in 1119 by Bishop Otto I of Bamberg as a Benedictine abbey. The abbey church, dedicated to Saint George, completed in 1125, is the first major church building of the so-called 'School of Hirsau' in Bavaria. It is a Romanesque basilica with a transept. The Romanesque wall-paintings are well-preserved.
The first abbot, Erminold, is supposed to have been killed by the monks because of his strictness. The tomb built in his honour by Bishop Heinrich II of Regensburg in 1283 was the work of one of the most important Regensburg cathedral master-builders. His name has not survived, but on the basis of this work he is known in art history as the 'Erminold Master'.
The abbey was dissolved in 1803 during the secularisation of Bavaria. The buildings were sold, and since 1899 have been in the possession of the Princes of Thurn und Taxis. Prince Max Emanuel of Thurn and Taxis (1902–1994), known as 'Father Emmeram' (German: Pater Emmeram), made efforts to re-establish a monastery in the buildings, which however came to nothing. Since 2002 a Montessori school has used the premises. The former abbey church serves as an auxiliary church for the Roman Catholic parish of St. Boniface.
References:Saint-Georges de Boscherville Abbey is a former Benedictine abbey. It was founded in about 1113 by Guillaume de Tancarville on the site of an earlier establishment of secular canons and settled by monks from the Abbey of Saint-Evroul. The abbey church made of Caumont stone was erected from 1113 to 1140. The Norman builders aimed to have very well-lit naves and they did this by means of tall, large windows, initially made possible by a wooden ceiling, which prevented uplift, although this was replaced by a Gothic vault in the 13th century. The chapter room was built after the abbey church and dates from the last quarter of the 12th century.
The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).