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We can look back on a successful anniversary year

We can look back on a successful anniversary year

In 2024, the Benedictine Abbey of Admont celebrated its 950th anniversary. And with many highlights. The crowning glory: the live broadcast of the Christmas mass by ORF and ZDF.

Jubilee 2024

 

The run from Admont to Rome, a record number of visitors to the Abbey Museum and a large number of clergymen. In the jubilee year 2024, worldwide interest in the Benedictine abbey in Upper Styria was greater than ever before: the media reported on the many highlights in the wide-ranging calendar of events in over four hundred articles. The celebrations were "attended by a large number of people", as Abbot Gerhard Hafner emphasises. For the head of the monastery, the strong presence of bishops, abbots and provosts was the main reason why "the church services were very well attended", as he says. The Abbey Museum can also look forward to a new record number of visitors: "Over 66,000 people visited our exhibitions in the anniversary year," says Admont Abbey's economic director Franz Pichler. Due to the high demand, the special exhibition "Admont Abbey 1074 - 950 years of a living monastery" will also be on display in the upcoming 2025 museum season. 

Admont Abbey Museum opening © Sabine Breitfuss ()
Prominent newcomer

 

"The huge interest in our anniversary year has also catapulted the reach of our online channels," opens Mario Brandmüller, Head of PR. On Instagram alone, there were 10,000 more people this year than last year who followed all of the Benedictine monastery's activities. The Upper Styrian abbey has also enjoyed great success with its Discover Culture platform. The virtual journey of discovery through Austrian museums, palaces, castles and a national park was expanded this year to include a prominent new addition: St Stephen's Cathedral in Vienna. "This means that Austria's most important landmark can now also be visited in virtual space on our cultural platform," says Brandmüller about the expanded offering in the anniversary year, which now comprises 85 tours through 122 digital spaces. 

 

 

A gift from above

 

To mark the 950th anniversary of its foundation, the Benedictine monastery in Admont also took a close look at its founder: Last June, Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg was the focus of an academic conference, which brought together renowned historians from all over Austria and Europe in Admont. The monastic highlights of the anniversary year show that the Benedictine Abbey of Admont can not only look back on an eventful past, but also look forward to a bright future: two deacon ordinations and the making of a temporary and perpetual profession are "a gift from above that we gratefully accept", says Abbot Gerhard Hafner. The growing community proves once again that "Generation Z can also hear the call of God", says the head of the monastery. 

 

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Anniversary run from Admont to Rome

 

Stiftsgymnasium Admont was also able to draw attention to itself in its anniversary year with the presentation of a new branch of education: In the 2025/2026 school year, the new sports programme will be launched, giving the school a unique selling point in the east of Austria. In keeping with the new focus, the big anniversary run took place on the school grounds last September, in which almost 700 young people covered the distance from Admont to Rome on a circular course. 

 

 

Crowning finale with live broadcast

 

"We can look back on a successful anniversary year," summarises Abbot Gerhard Hafner. The celebrations culminated in the Christmas Mass, which was broadcast live from the collegiate church on 25 December by ORF and ZDF.

 

Photos: Admont Abbey/Christoph Draxl; Sabine Breitfuß 

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Group photo collegiate church final
School day for the abbey anniversary Group photo www
School day for the abbey anniversary Group photo www
School day for the abbey anniversary Group photo www
School day for the abbey anniversary
Admont Abbey Museum opening © Sabine Breitfuss ()
Admont Abbey Museum opening © Sabine Breitfuss ()
Admont Abbey Museum opening © Sabine Breitfuss ()
Admont Abbey Museum opening © Sabine Breitfuss ()
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