Architectural aspects
Soon after its completion in 1776 the library of Admont Benedictine Monastery was described as a “particularly splendid room” and also called the “eighth wonder of the world”.
On the one hand, this enviable fame of course arises from the magnificent artistic decoration of the room in the form of ceiling frescoes by Bartolomeo Altomonte, the wood carvings of Josef Stammel and the white and gold bookcases with the many fine bindings contained therein. On the other hand, one’s eye is fascinated by the overall spatial view of the library room itself.
With dimensions of 70 metres in length, 14 metres wide and roughly 13 metres high, the Admont Monastery library is the largest monastery library room in the world. The creator of this truly magnificent space was the Viennese architect Josef Hueber. He probably began planning the construction of the library hall in 1764 and its erection was presumably completed in 1773.
Josef Hueber took the State Hall of the Imperial Court Library (now National Library) in Vienna as the pattern for his design and planned a space divided into three rooms and roofed over by series of seven large cupolas. The central room is covered by a single large vault, while each of the two other rooms to the North and South possesses three eliptical cupolas.
This division of the space into three gives the very long hall pleasing proportions and a harmonious overall appearance. A gallery held up by consoles runs along the two long side rooms and emphasises the two-storey effect while lessening the feeling of the height of the cupolas.
The central part is treated differently: the architect has deliberately set a “vertical accent” through the twelve marble pillars supporting the vault and by doing without the gallery. The middle hall contains the Most High: the Divine Revelation in the form of the cupola frescoes portraying the personified Divine Wisdom, various editions of the Bible, and the Church Fathers presented in the prints displayed on the bookshelves.
A work of art of a quite special type is the floor of the library. Over 7,000 diamond-shaped stone flags of white, red and grey marble have been so cleverly arranged in geometric patterns that they can be seen as ribbons, zigzag lines, cubes or areas of step formations, depending on the subjective view of the beholder.
Soon after its completion in 1776 the library of Admont Benedictine Monastery was described as a “particularly splendid room” and also called the “eighth wonder of the world”.
On the one hand, this enviable fame of course arises from the magnificent artistic decoration of the room in the form of ceiling frescoes by Bartolomeo Altomonte, the wood carvings of Josef Stammel and the white and gold bookcases with the many fine bindings contained therein. On the other hand, one’s eye is fascinated by the overall spatial view of the library room itself.
With dimensions of 70 metres in length, 14 metres wide and roughly 13 metres high, the Admont Monastery library is the largest monastery library room in the world. The creator of this truly magnificent space was the Viennese architect Josef Hueber. He probably began planning the construction of the library hall in 1764 and its erection was presumably completed in 1773.
Josef Hueber took the State Hall of the Imperial Court Library (now National Library) in Vienna as the pattern for his design and planned a space divided into three rooms and roofed over by series of seven large cupolas. The central room is covered by a single large vault, while each of the two other rooms to the North and South possesses three eliptical cupolas.
This division of the space into three gives the very long hall pleasing proportions and a harmonious overall appearance. A gallery held up by consoles runs along the two long side rooms and emphasises the two-storey effect while lessening the feeling of the height of the cupolas.
The central part is treated differently: the architect has deliberately set a “vertical accent” through the twelve marble pillars supporting the vault and by doing without the gallery. The middle hall contains the Most High: the Divine Revelation in the form of the cupola frescoes portraying the personified Divine Wisdom, various editions of the Bible, and the Church Fathers presented in the prints displayed on the bookshelves.
A work of art of a quite special type is the floor of the library. Over 7,000 diamond-shaped stone flags of white, red and grey marble have been so cleverly arranged in geometric patterns that they can be seen as ribbons, zigzag lines, cubes or areas of step formations, depending on the subjective view of the beholder.
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