The capuchin monastery

The Capuchin monastery in Wiener Neustadt looks back on 800 years of Franciscan tradition and 400 years of Capuchin life. The Wiener Neustadt monastery was built as a Minorite monastery in the middle of the 13th century – a few years after the death of the founder of the order, Francis of Assisi (1228). The first reliable documentary mention of the house dates back to 1267. The foundation stone for the conversion to the Capuchin monastery was laid in 1623. Capuchins have been living and working in Wiener Neustadt ever since. The only interruption occurred during the Nazi period (1941-1945) when the monastery, like many other Capuchin monasteries, was confiscated. After the end of the war, the house was returned to the Order and restored.

The Capuchins opened their beautiful monastery garden to visitors for the first time as part of the Lower Austria State Exhibition in 2019. The family program is very popular: donkeys have been living in the garden of the Capuchins since 2019. A ride-on children's train makes children's eyes light up. The garden café is also a new highlight in the life of the Capuchins at the weekend.

The monastery library and the attic are shown as part of a guided tour. These "Hidden Places" regularly make visitors gape in amazement. The Madonna, which was consecrated in September 2019 and now watches over the Capuchin monastery as a replica, is brand new.

The original of this early Gothic stone sculpture dates from the 14th century. It was located in the Capuchin Church in Wiener Neustadt until the early 1930s, and in 1936 it had to be sold to finance restoration work. Today the original is in the Belvedere in Vienna. With regard to the Lower Austrian State Exhibition 2019, the suggestion was taken up to enable the "return" of the statue of Mary by making a true-to-original copy for the Capuchin Church. The cost of making the statue was borne by the state of Lower Austria, and the statue was loaned to Capuchins of Wiener Neustadt handed over.