St. Florian Monastery: Beautifully Baroque

In this installment of ‘Larger Than Life: Architecture Through the Ages,’ we visit an Austrian monastery that abounds in stunning art and craftsmanship.

From an aerial perspective, St. Florian Monastery appears as a sprawling town under a mansard roof of red clay tile. Home to canons regular, or priests, who live in a monastery community, St. Florian’s vast interior abbey space includes residents’ rooms, guest quarters, a library, and a restaurant. The monastery’s most visible and distinct exterior feature is the abbey church, with its contrasting copper roof and two tower steeples that are more than 260 feet tall. Redfox1980/Shutterstock

St. Florian Monastery in the Austrian town of the same name is one of the oldest operational monasteries worldwide. Although the complex can trace its history back to the 9th century, it was reconstructed between 1686 and 1708 by the Italian architect and master builder Carlo Antonio Carlone (1635–1708). The Augustinian monastery presents quintessentially distinct baroque characteristics of the 16th-century Italian architectural style. In addition to its grand scale and curvaceous interior forms, the abbey displays other baroque elements such as gold gilding and ceiling frescos in vivid hues.

Massive in both length and interior square footage, the monastery’s standout architectural features are the abbey church’s two tower steeples, which are topped with spires. Inside, St. Florian Monastery is an artistic masterpiece, especially its library and marble hall. It’s indicative of the training Carlone received from his art- and architecture-inclined family.