Countess Hildeburg of Poigen-Rebgau founded Altenburg Abbey in 1144. Excavations found a 12th-century wall and a 13th-century Romanesque cloister. The Swedes destroyed the abbey in 1645. Abbots Maurus Boxler and Placidus Much directed the Baroque reconstruction, and Josef Munggenast supervised the modernization. The abbey church was renovated from 1730 to 1733, and the library was built in 1740. Paul Troger painted the frescoes.
The front facade is about 650 feet (200 m) long, and the library hall is 157 feet (48 m) long and three stories high. The abbey church is oval-shaped with a dome.
The SA occupied the abbey in March 1938, after the abbot refused to fly the Nazi flag. It was dissolved in 1941. Restoration ran from 1947 to 1968, and it is an active Benedictine monastery.
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