Canons and Wine

Our excursion today brings us to a Monastery that has been a mission since 1114.

Its story begins with a veil and a Babenburg Emperor. Once upon a time Leopold III loved his wife, Agnus, and she had a veil. One day the wind swept her veil up, took it away and it was gone. Some time later Leopold was out hunting and up in a tree was his wife’s veil, shining gloriously and in perfect condition. Leopold knew this was a miracle and the hill he stood on was holy ground. The only thing left to do was build a church to commemorate his miracle and Klosterneuburg was born. This monastery has then lived through centuries. The proof of its history is evident in its décor and style from Medieval remains to Gothic and the Baroque to a swimming pool for recreation.

This building has centuries of stories that echo through the marble hallways in addition to the graves of canons buried under the slabs of rock. My favorite story is the story of Britain’s own King Richard “the Lionheart” and his altercation with Leopold V. Leo V had a beef with the Lionheart because he tore down Austria’s flag. As the crusader attempted to return home in disguise a type of warrant was out for his arrest and Leo spotted him, picked him up and held him prisoner in Dürnstein. Leopold finally gave England back its king in exchange for a huge sum of cash, raised through “ruinous taxes and confiscation of church treasures.”[1] The Babenburgs used the money to build roads, city improvements and new walls for cities, which came in handy for defending Turkish attacks.[2]

Besides having such a scandalous story of kidnapping by its founder’s namesake, Klosterneuburg itself holds a couple of treasures. The first treasure is the actual body of the founder and saint of the Monastery, Leopold III. The Church used to own the first and oldest German Bible but sold it to afford repairs after WWII. The former items are pretty grand but the Monastery’s most prized possession is the Verdun Altar. It is so valuable that no insurance company will agree to insure it. Instead it is kept behind locked doors and only available to be viewed by private tours. This wonderful example of Catholic art is a Triptych made up of 45 tiles and tells the history of the church from creation to Jesus and beyond through typology and symbolism.[3] It is truly a sight to behold the gold and enable shines brilliantly much like I would imagine Agnes’ veil shone when Leopold rescued it from a tree.


The Verdun Altar is not just a work of art it has a few stories of its own. During Nazi occupation, Hitler planned on stealing the altar by making a replica to exchange for the real one. However his plan ran out of time and prioritized other projects. Much earlier in the altar’s existence, the altar caught fire. The canons at that time rushed to save their precious treasure by dousing it in wine. Yes wine.

Speaking of wine, Klosterneuburg has a lot it. This monastery is one of Vienna’s oldest and largest wine estates. It began viticulture in 1114 and reaches 108 hectares (over 260 acres). We were fortunate enough to spend the evening drinking the wine with the canons in a Heuriger. Luckily we had no fires to put out and only needed to drink the wine. Some of us spent the time socializing with the canons, others spent a little bit more time drinking in-between their riveting conversations.



[1] Nicholas Parsons, Vienna a Cultural History, 104
[2] Steven Beller, A Concise History of Vienna, 19
[3] Parsons, Cultural History, 104