Kremsmunster Abbey, crypt cenotaph of Gunther, son of Tassilo III, killed by a boar. Tassilo founded the Abbey in 777 ACE

Gunther and the boar.  The boar is very sorrowful.
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Kremsmunster Abbey crypt, cenotaph of Gunther, son of Tassilo III, founder; and the boar, grieving

3. The Kremsmunster Abbey Church - built over the older parts.

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Kremsmunster Abbey Church, with monk, Kremsmunster, Austria

Interior of the church: we thought we could read the identification of these remains, but cannot.
Skeletal remains, full body, Kremsmunster Abbey Church, Kremsmunster, Austria. Trying to identify. Saint? Dignitary?
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Photos:  We have some, shown here; but the guide then asked for no further. Do an Images search to find more. There is a vast number of display cases, artifacts.

4.1  Treasure. Gilded book.  Is this the actual Codex? 


This, and the Tassilo Chalice, were in the treasures room of the museum, but we are not sure if this is the Codex Millenarius, or is the Codex upstairs in the vast Library.
Kremsmunster Abbey, treasure book (is this the actual Codex Millenarius? Or is it upstairs in the Library?

4.2  Treasure:  Codex Millenarius. Is this the gilded volume above?


Is the gilded book the Codex itself?  We saw other volumes in the upper floor Library, so perhaps the Codex itself is there. My queendom to know German.

The Codex at the Kremsmunster Abbey is a four gospel volume plus illustrations, and is described as Carolingian, thus at the time of Charlemagne.  It may have been made at the Abbey at Mondsee. Or here. Sources vary.

Codex means a form of organizing manuscripts (manu-script, or hand-written) so that the pages are bound together, with covers - like "book" as opposed to scrolls. The term Codex is not for any book, however, and not for printed books, but only used for late-antiquity to medieval handwritten works.  The word means block of wood, for the shape perhaps, see ://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Codex

See a "facsimile" of this Codex at ://www.adeva.com/faks_detail_en.asp?id=86/  It apparently is in a now-lost dialect, the Bavarian-Austrian form of Vulgate, says the site. But a portion is in another form, a Vetus Latina (what is that?), suggesting that there was a predecessor version then put into Vulgate - think of the opportunities for error, for change, for insertion or omission, or mistaken letters in all these manuscripted copies. Do we know what we think we know. Is anybody's dogma a house of cards.

We were told that there were copies made by hand from this Codex and that those are in other libraries, but it is not clear which one is the source of "facsimiles" - photographs - see ://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Facsimile/

• Is that online offer really a facsimile of this particular Codex? Our understanding was that there is no photographic set of each page of this particular Codex at all. No money to do it, inadequate staffing for library, etc. as anywhere else. Someone please win the lottery and put this whole thing online.

4.3  Tassilo Chalice.


This is copper and silver gilt, from the 8th Century.  The value is not in the metal, but in the workmanship and age. It was created on the occasion of the marriage of Tassilo III, founder of Kremsmunster, and his wife, Luitpirga, both featured in portraits of equal prominence on the chalice itself there at the base, beside each other. Exact year?  The Abbey was founded in 777?  Other icons show Mary, John the Baptist, and the Queen Theodolinda of Lombardy (sometimes Theodelinda), although that could be uncertain. See ://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Tassilo_Chalice Also, the church would not feature a female on a chalice in that way, as things developed, is that so?  Experts? To your research.

Theodelinda: Who?  Here, a Wikipedia here, at ://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodelinda/, so watch out. It does cite the 1913 Catholic Encyclopedia, however). Theodelinda:  Queen of Lombardy, a ruler who chose her own husband and favored founding churches dedicated to John the Baptist. That fits with the Lombardy background of Luitpirga herself, and with John the Baptist on the Chalice itself.  Why the "uncertain" designation as to Theodelinda?
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5.  Kremsmunster Interior: The Grand Rooms

Which is which? Of these two Habsburgs, Rudolph I (1218-1291) has a full face, and Rudolph II (1552-1612) is more angular, so this is our guess. The costumes are not that different.
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Rudolph II is the "Iron Man" of Prague, ruler there who is featured in the statue of that name. See Czech Republic Road Ways, Iron Man. Look on a map, and see how close Austria, Germany, the Czech Republic and Hungary are. Histories entwined. See also ://www.answers.com/topic/rudolf-ii-holy-roman-emperor/

The need to budget crosses all boundaries.  Here, instead of vaulting the ceiling, it is flat and only looks vaulted.

Trompe l'oeil non-vault, painted ceiling, Kremsmunster Abbey, is flat but looks vaulted

6.  Kremsmunster Interior:  The Renaissance Stoves

Keeping warm in drafty places.  The Renaissance stove replaced the medieval fireplace, as much more efficient.
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Renaissance Stove, gilt, ceramic, multi-cherubic, Kremsmunster Abbey

Stoves in most of the big rooms. Sometimes a duct would carry warm air upstairs, such as to the library, where the risk of fire was too great for a stove there itself.

Kremsmunster Abbey, Renaissance stove, ceramic


7. The Kremsmunster Library.  

The Library is off limits to cameras. Here is a fair use thumbnail from ://www. ibiblio.org/jewel/foar.old/index.html/ It was built in about 1680, and houses - according to this Kremsmunster Abbey site, ://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Kremsm%C3%BCnster_Abbey/5/ - some "160,000 volumes, besides 1,700 manuscripts, and nearly 2,000 incunabulae" What? Incunabulae are early printed books, before 1500 or so, and not from the separate type characters as in Gutenberg who lined those up, but probably the single block of wood on which the entire page was carved, see http://www.worldlingo.com/ma/enwiki/en/Incunabulum

Think three main sections, with arches separating them and becoming slightly smaller as the eye goes on through.  There is a secret door to get in to it, secret at least on the library side.  Once in and the door shuts, where did the door go?  It takes pressing and moving a particular book before the whole thing swings about again.

Renaissance libraries - see  Beautiful Libraries In The World, at  ://www.slideshare.net/chulee/beatiful-libraries-in-the-world-1195836127458309-5/  Click on the slide show until you see Kremsmunster and it is near the beginning. Then get some tea and see all the others. A feast. Renaissance libraries are stunning.

8.  Kremsmunster Abbey Courtyard


We preferred the quiet memorial to Gunther in the crypt beneath the church, to the ornate Baroque here. Personal taste. We do not know who these people are at the arch entering the courtyard. Wings and swords, wings and swords. What religion have we wrought?
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Baroque gateway, Kremsmuenster Abbey, Austria

Cobblestones.  Naturally rounded stones, of a regular size, massed together for paving. Watch the cobbles. Rounded may mean the sides of a rectangular stone also; arrange for water run-off, or for patterns. Cobblestones were sometimes used for ballast on ships, then used for the streets of the port upon arrival.
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