St. Margareten, Stift Ardagger, Romanesque monastery in Ardagger, Austria

St. Margareten, Stift Ardagger is a Romanesque monastery church in the Danube valley of Lower Austria, housing a crypt, a high altar, and an organ. The building combines stone elements from different periods, showing clearly how it was altered and extended over the centuries.

Emperor Henry III gave the Ardagger area to the Bishopric of Freising on 7 January 1049 to establish a collegiate foundation honouring Saint Margaret. The church was consecrated on 4 September 1063 in the presence of Archbishop Anno of Cologne, Archbishop Adalbert of Bremen, Archbishop Siegfried of Mainz, Bishop Ellenhard of Freising and 24 other senior clergy. In 1662 the foundation became a real provostry, and provosts were increasingly drawn from the Austrian nobility.

The foundation was dedicated to Saint Margaret, whose feast day was marked by a market that ran for several days. A 1667 manuscript with four miniature paintings, made for Provost Melchior von Pergen as a gift to Emperor Leopold I, records the founding legend and shows the collegiate church and provost's house; it is kept today in the Austrian National Library.

The monastery can be visited on a guided tour, which gives access to the main spaces including the crypt and the choir. It is worth checking in advance whether a service or event is scheduled, as this may affect which parts of the building are open.

The founding legend first appears in writing only in 1667, in a manuscript with four miniature paintings, including one of the collegiate church and provost's house. Provost Melchior von Pergen commissioned it as a gift for Emperor Leopold I on the occasion of the impending birth of his wife Margareta Teresa. The manuscript is now held by the Austrian National Library.