2007 Austria €10 Silver BU "St. Paul Abbey"

• Mint: Austrian Mint
• Denomination: €10
• Quality: Brilliant Uncirculated
• Issue limit: 40,000 pcs.
• Alloy: 92.5% Sterling Silver
• Diameter: 32 mm
• Weight: 16 grams
• Artists: Th. Pesendorfer/ H. Wähner
• Box/Capsule: No/Blister
• Certificate: Printed Folder

Issued on October 10, this is the fourth issue in a six-coin series featuring Abbeys and Monasteries, which is a subcategory to the very popular series "Austria and its People".

The issue is dedicated to the Benedictine Abbey of St. Paul im Lavanttal (in the Lavant Valley) in the southern province of Carinthia. The site began as a hill fortress and later a Roman fort, until in 1091 monks from the Abbey of Hirsau in the Black Forest turned it into a Benedictine monastery. The abbey flourished throughout the Middle Ages and the Baroque period until it fell victim to the widespread closures instigated by the Emperor Joseph II in 1787. The monarch, as a son of the "Enlightenment", did not hold with "useless" religious foundations.

22 years later, in 1809, more Benedictine monks from the Black Forest came to Austria seeking refuge. They were fleeing new closures caused by the religious policies of the French Revolution and Napoleon, and they came from the Abbey of St. Blasius carrying many of its historical and cultural treasures with them. The Emperor Francis I placed St. Paul im Lavanttal at their disposal, and so the ancient abbey gained a new lease of life.

The treasures of St. Blasius enriched the already important collection of works of art and historical manuscripts. The library alone contains over 100,000 volumes documenting the development of the art of writing from the 4th to the 18th century.

Today St. Paul im Lavanttal is Carinthia's sole inhabited Benedictine monastery. Its priceless collections and its museum activities have earned it the title of "The Treasure House of Carinthia".

The obverse displays a view of the abbey buildings nestled on the wooded hill above the town. The reverse shows the South Portal of the abbey church. Built in 1618 from the remains of the medieval partition wall between the monks' choir and the body of the church, and also has a representation of the Adoration of the Magi carved beneath its Romanesque arch.

Additional Information

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