Nonnberg Abbey, Benedictine monastery in Altstadt, Salzburg, Austria

Nonnberg Abbey sits at the foot of Festungsberg in Salzburg's Old Town and combines Romanesque foundations with Gothic additions from later periods. The church showcases detailed murals, stone carvings, and a choir where daily services continue to be held.

Rupert of Salzburg founded the monastery around 711/712 on a terrace of the Festungsberg, within the surviving walls of the Roman castrum superius of Iuvavum. Its endowment came from Duke Theodbert of Bavaria, and Erentrudis, a relative of Rupert, became the first abbess. A fire around 1006 destroyed the first church; Henry II helped rebuild it, and the consecration took place in 1009. After the fire of 1423 the church was rebuilt between 1464 and 1509.

The abbey is also called Erin-Kloster after Erentrudis, Rupert's niece or relative, who became its first abbess; her tomb lies in the church crypt and since 1624 she has held the title "Mother of Salzburg". The nuns sing Gregorian chant each morning at 6:45, and the convent runs a pottery workshop, a guesthouse and the organic farm Erentrudishof.

The church opens early in the morning and stays open until dusk, with hours adjusting through the seasons. Visitors should know that regular services and the sisters' prayer schedule may limit when certain areas are accessible.

The abbey's treasury holds a folding chair made for the abbess after 1100, carved with figures in walrus ivory, and an ivory crozier dated 1242. About 195 manuscripts from the 14th to 18th centuries were filmed by the Hill Museum and Manuscript Library. The Reisszug, one of the world's oldest surviving railways, links the abbey with Hohensalzburg Fortress.