The charterhouse in Mauerbach

Thanks to archaeological excavations at the oldest Carthusian monastery in Lower Austria, we now know numerous details about the monks' everyday life.

The Mauerbach Charterhouse was the oldest Carthusian monastery in Lower Austria. It was founded by the Habsburg Frederick the Fair (1289 to 1330) and handed over to the order in 1316. It was redesigned in the Baroque style from 1616. The Charterhouse was abolished under Joseph II in 1782 and was used as a poorhouse and shelter for the homeless until the 1960s, after which it was used as a storage facility for art objects to be restituted. Since 1984, the Federal Monuments Office has used the building for the Information and Further Education Center for the Preservation of Architectural Monuments and the Mauerbach Archaeology Center.

Archaeological excavations
Extensive archaeological excavations were carried out in the Charterhouse from 1996 onwards. This made it possible to reconstruct the previously unknown floor plan of the medieval monastery and trace the history of the building from its beginnings to the baroque complex that still exists today.

The everyday life of the monks
Archaeology has provided new insights into the everyday life of the Carthusians. Each monk had his own cell with a garden in which he lived and worked. Several complete cell inventories, mostly utilitarian objects made of ceramic and glass, were recovered from the respective latrine shafts. In addition to utilitarian ceramics, utensils and tools, expensive imports such as fine majolica tableware from Italy were also found. Books were of great importance, and the monks were evidently also involved in the production of book bindings, as numerous fittings and semi-finished products suggest. As the Carthusians were subject to strict dietary laws that severely restricted the consumption of meat, they ate a lot of fish and other aquatic animals such as crabs, beavers and, above all, turtles. The latter were even bred in their own ponds.

Tip: The choir of Schauer's mortuary chapel in the cloister garden and the partially uncovered and preserved lower church of the medieval charterhouse have been preserved and can be visited.