Edmundsburg: A Historic Abbey Residence and Research Center in Salzburg
Site at a Glance
- Rating
- 4.4
- Popularity
- Very Low
- Country
- Austria
- Primary era
- Early Modern
- Eras represented
- Early Modern, Modern
- Civilizations
- Habsburg, Holy Roman Empire
- Site type
- Domestic
- Remains
- Elite Residence
On this page8 sections
History
Edmundsburg is a historic building in Salzburg, Austria, constructed between 1694 and 1696 for Edmund Sinnhuber, abbot of St Peter’s Abbey. It replaced two modest houses formerly owned by the Lords of Nussdorf and became the summer residence of the abbots of St Peter, a Benedictine monastery and one of Salzburg’s principal historic ecclesiastical institutions.
Construction and Early Use
From 1694, the property belonged to Felix Pflanzmann, a princely-archiepiscopal chamber councillor and doctor of both laws. He offered it to Abbot Sinnhuber for sale so that the proceeds could provide for his unmarried daughter. The city master builder Lorenz Stumpfegger then erected Edmundsburg. Whether Sinnhuber himself lived there for an extended period is uncertain.
The building first served as a summer residence for the abbots of St Peter. It was later assigned as accommodation for worthy monastery employees, but by 1711 it had been rented to tenants. Problems with the water supply and sewage system eventually made several rooms uninhabitable.
Changes in the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries
Under the supervision of Father Dominicus Beck, Salzburg’s second lightning conductor, a device that directs an electrical discharge safely into the ground, was installed at Edmundsburg on 12 May 1786. The first in Salzburg had been placed at Mirabell Palace.
Salzburg became part of the Habsburg monarchy in 1816, joining the dynastic empire ruled by the Habsburg family in Central Europe. Edmundsburg changed ownership in 1834. In 1853, Father Peter Egerer began establishing an institution for poor boys in the Duchy of Salzburg. Empress Carolina Augusta contributed 10,000 florins to the project. The respective archbishop served as protector of the reformatory and rescue home, while the abbots of St Peter directed it and the abbey occasionally supplied educators.
The Boys’ Institution
Growing demand for places led to the construction of a second building in 1902. Together, the two buildings could house as many as 130 boys. The Sisters of the Cross from Linz managed the boarding institution until 1939.
During the National Socialist period, Edmundsburg was expropriated but continued to function as a student residence. Following restitution, Father Eberhard Steinbrecher of St Peter’s Abbey directed the institution from 1947 until 1959. In that year, Edmundsburg was handed over to the University of Salzburg.
Academic and Cultural Use
The neighboring building was also connected with the development of higher education in Salzburg. The Salzburg University Weeks were founded there in 1930 as a predecessor to the University of Salzburg, which was re-established in 1962 as Paris Lodron University Salzburg. Edith Stein, a German philosopher and religious thinker, attended the first congress and delivered a lecture that attracted considerable attention.
During the 1960s, as plans for a university developed, the Archdiocese of Salzburg acquired the property. On the initiative of Stefan Rehrl, the International Research Center for Fundamental Questions of the Sciences Salzburg was established at Edmundsburg in 1964. It was affiliated with the Catholic University Association and supported the international effort to re-establish the University of Salzburg.
The building was thoroughly renovated by the Archdiocese of Salzburg and the University of Salzburg in 2008. Since 27 October of that year, it has housed the Salzburg Center of European Union Studies, an interdisciplinary European and research center whose work includes law, economics, and political science. Parts of the complex also accommodate the Stefan Zweig Center Salzburg and the Salzburg Literary Archive, founded by Adolf Haslinger. The Catholic University Association remains housed in the Edith Stein House, together with the Austrian Institute for European Legal Policy.
Remains
Edmundsburg stands on the Mönchsberg above Salzburg’s festival halls. The original building is a three-story, cubic structure with a pyramidal roof and an octagonal lantern. Stumpfegger built it as a casino-like structure, meaning a freestanding residential building, on the site of the two earlier houses.
Edmundsburg
The main building’s compact cubic form and roof lantern define its surviving exterior. Above the entrance portal, the letters form the Latin inscription Edmundus Abbas Sancti Petri, identifying Edmund Sinnhuber, abbot of St Peter, as the building’s patron.
Edith Stein House
The neighboring 1902 addition is now known as Institutshaus 2a or the Edith Stein House. It was erected to provide further accommodation for the boys’ institution and forms the second principal building associated with the Edmundsburg complex.
Today, Edmundsburg is used by the University of Salzburg and contains offices and research institutions connected with the university and the Archdiocese of Salzburg.
Nearby sites
