ÖSTERREICH	AUSTRIA
Bundesland: Oberösterreich	Upper Austria
Bezirk: Rohrbach

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Schlägl [foreground right] is situated at an elevation of 546 m on the river Große Mühl in the Mühlviertel region of northern Upper Austria. The village began to develop in the 13th century in the vicinity of the monastery. After World War II, Schlägl and the nearby market town of Aigen im Mühlkreis [background] grew together, but remained two independent municipalities. Today Schlägl has a population of about 1,400 inhabitants.

The Premonstratensian monastery [foreground right], was founded in 1218 after a prior Cistercian monastery, founded in 1203/1204 was unseccessful. The monastery became instrumental in clearing and colonization of the region. Its name (Slage) was first mentioned in a document of 1218. The oldest parts of the monastery, e.g. the crypt of the church, date back to the late 13th century. In the 14th century, the monastery also gained the right of jurisdiction in the area. Most parts of the monastery that we can see today were built in the 15th century. During the 16th century, the period of the Reformation, the monastery lost its importance and it gradually fell into decay. However, after the counter-reformation it was rebuilt in Baroque style during the 17th century. From that period are also the large organ of 1634, the choir lattice of 1635 and the pulpit of 1647. After a fire in 1701 the church received new altars and choir stalls (around 1740). The famous library of the monastery was built in 1852 in Neo-Baroque style. It holds about 60,000 volumes, 240 manuscripts and 190 early prints. The monastery's picture gallery, built in 1898, holds a collection of important paintings from the 15th, 17th and 18th centuries. The portrait gallery holds portraits of all members of the monastery since 1801. The monastery today is in charge of 20 parishes and pastoral care units in the region. It also owns a brewery, forests, a power plant, a market garden and other facilities.