Kloster Pulgarn, Gothic monastery near Steyregg, Austria
Kloster Pulgarn is a T-shaped Gothic building set within a large economic complex that displays medieval architecture and stone decorations throughout. The entire site includes multiple buildings that together form an old religious center beyond just the church.
Hans von Kapellen and his stepmother Margaretha von Falkenberg founded a hospital with cemetery for the poor and sick, fulfilling a wish of Ulrich II von Kapellen, who died in 1301. Bishop Wernhard of Passau detached it from Tafersheim parish on 10 August 1303; the hospital passed to the Holy Spirit Order in 1313 and was enlarged into a monastery. Hussite raids burned it in 1424, and Joseph II secularised it in the late 18th century.
The monastery's name recalls its founders, the Kapellen family, who established a hospital for the poor and sick here in 1303. The site later passed to St. Florian Abbey, which bought it at auction in 1836 and still owns it today. Its future use is currently under discussion.
The former monastery stands by the road between Steyregg and St. Georgen an der Gusen, near where the Reichenbach flows into the Danube, within sight of Luftenberg Castle. The buildings are privately owned by St. Florian Abbey and their future use is still under discussion, so access to the interiors is not guaranteed. Visitors can view the complex from the road and the surrounding area.
The site began as a hospital (hospitale pauperum) for the poor and sick, founded to fulfil a wish of Ulrich II von Kapellen, who died in 1301. His son Hans and stepmother Margaretha von Falkenberg established it, and from 1313 it passed to the Brothers of the Holy Spirit from Vienna.
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