Admont Abbey to Host Scientific Symposium

Admont Abbey to Host Scientific Symposium

Founded in 1074, the Benedictine Abbey of Admont in Upper Styria is celebrating its 950th anniversary this year. The abbey was founded by Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg, who had a monastery built on the orders of St Hemma of Gurk. He chose Admont as the site for its construction. A strategic decision, as Father Maximilian Schiefermüller, Prior of Admont Abbey, knows: "Admont was part of the diocese of Salzburg. There was already a parish and salt was mined nearby in Hall. At the time, this was an important economic basis for the foundation of towns and monasteries." Archbishop Gebhard's final resting place is also in Admont. "The sources indicate that the mortal remains of the founder of the monastery were removed from the grave and buried in the high altar of the collegiate church," says Schiefermüller, "but we wanted to know for sure whether this is actually the case." The Admont monastic community therefore removed the sarcophagus from the high altar. It was then opened in the presence of the monks and a restorer. What came to light was a fully preserved skeleton, which was put together by the Graz anthropologist Silvia Renhart. "The skeleton was medically and anthropologically examined in order to determine whether it was actually the bones of Archbishop Gebhard," explains Admont's prior. The results of the samples speak for themselves: the skeleton corresponds to a man from the 11th century who was around 75 years old, a rarity for the time. This means that "everything points to the fact that it is indeed Archbishop Gebhard who rests here in Admont," says Schiefermüller happily.