Refectory

A dining hall with excellent acoustics

In accordance with the Baroque imagination, the agape, the meal of charity, should be taken in large and magnificent rooms. Lambach Abbey has just such a room: the summer refectory, the monastic dining hall.

At the beginning of the 18th century, Abbot Maximilian Pagl continued the redesign of the monastery, which has begun by his predecessors, and built the summer refectory and ambulatory.

The relief busts of the founders of the order can be found above the main windows of the summer refectory. There are also images of the twenty virtues on both sides of the windows as stucco reliefs.

Particularly impressive are the five frescoes of the magnificent room, painted by Wolfgang Andreas Heindl from Wels. On the east side is the depiction of the Temptation of Christ. Here the devil tries to stop Jesus from fasting in the desert, but he resists all of them. On the west side, St Adalbero is depicted consecrating the monastery to the Mother of God.

The ceiling painting consists of three biblical scenes: the manna rain, also known as the bread of heaven or the bread of angels. Supposedly, this food fell from the sky every night during the 40-year wanderings of the Israelites and served as food. The second scene shows Moses beating water out of the rock. When the Israelites almost die of thirst, this is one of the many miracles that saves them on their journey. In the middle, the banquet in Simon's house is depicted.

The summer refectory is the perfect place for festive occasions. Thanks to its excellent acoustics, it is also used for concerts.