At the end of the 18th century Pope Clemens dissolved the Jesuit Congeration. Around the same time Emperor Joseph II closed numerous monasteries in Austria, 20 of them were located in Upper Austria. In the country’s main towns with no existing universities and attached libraries at that time, public libraries were founded. This was what happened in 1774 in Linz. The so called “Lyzeal library” or “bibliotheca publica” as it was also called, was the forerunner of today's Upper Austrian State Library. Therefore today we are able to offer manuscripts and incunabula from the following former monasteries:
- Baumgartenberg (Order of Cistercians, founded 1144)
- Garsten (Benedictine order, founded 1107)
- Gleink (Benedictine order, founded 1123)
- Linz (Jesuit order, founded 1660)
- Linz (Minorites, founded 1669)
- Mondsee (Benedictine order, founded 748)
- Münzbach (Dominican order, founded 1657)
- Pupping (Franciscan order, founded 1477)
- Steyr (Jesuit order, founded 1632)
- Suben (the Canons Regular of St. Augustine's Order, founded 1126)
- Traunkirchen (Jesuit order, founded 1622)
- Waldhausen (the Canons Regular of St. Augustine's Order, founded 1147)
References
- Hittmair, Rudolf: Der Josefinische Klostersturm im Land ob der Enns. Freiburg i.Br. 1907.
- Holter, Kurt: Bücherschätze aus alter und neuer Zeit in Oberösterreich. Aus: Oberösterreich; 1951.
- Vancsa, Kurt: Aus der Frühzeit der Bundesstaatlichen Studienbibliothek Linz 1774 bis 1784. Aus: Biblos; 13.1964.
- Oö. Landesbibliothek: Kulturelles Erbe in einer digitalen Welt. Linz 1999