Minoritenkloster Neunkirchen

The Minoritenkloster Neunkirchen is a monastery in the centre of Neunkirchen in Lower Austria. It is physically joined to the older Mariä-Himmelfahrt-Kirche. The irregular early Baroque layout partly follows the line of the former tabor and the late medieval town wall. The monastery was founded in 1631 by Hans Balthasar von Hoyos. After the Second Turkish Siege of Vienna in 1683 it was rebuilt in 1686 and remodelled in 1763. The one- or two-storey L-shaped building has barrel vaults and cross-vaults, while the corridors have Platzl vaults. On the second upper floor flat ceilings carry stucco mirrors and Biedermeier wall paintings. The Minoritensaal was once the monks’ refectory. It is a rectangular room with a stucco ceiling from the early 18th century. At its centre is a Christogram and a burning heart of Jesus framed by acanthus and flowers. There is a painted Hoyos coat of arms dated 1770 and a baroque canvas of Christ at Emmaus. A portrait of the founder Johannes Balthasar Hoyos hangs beside eleven movable panels showing scenes such as the Adoration of the Magi, the Adoration of the Shepherds and the Crucifixion.