Deutsche Version
Opening of the Cistercian Way in Zwettl
The guests of honor celebrate the opening of the Zwettl section at the "Cistercian Way" together with the town of Zwettl and Zwettl Abbey.
On 4th and 5th of October 2024, the town and the abbey Zwettl jointly hosted celebrations to mark the opening of the Cistercian Way, and a host of international guests joined in - first and foremost Deputy District Administrator Bruno Kellner and Alexandra Baier, the Cisterscapes project manager, from Bamberg. In addition to numerous representatives of the partner sites in the Czech Republic and Germany as well as regional partners and supporters, Vlada Sanduleac also joined in the celebrations. She is the social media and communications manager at the European Heritage Label Office in Brussels and reported live from this event in the Waldviertel throughout the weekend.
A varied programme was offered on both days. After a working meeting of the Interreg partners from Vyšší Brod, Žd'ár nad Sázavou and Zwettl, the foreign guests and locals got to know the monastery and its special features during a guided tour by town archivist and cultural mediator Elisabeth Moll. After that Elisabeth Moll, Dr Iris Haslinger and herbalist Benedikt Felsinger held speeches on the topic of ‘Landscape: created - formed - believed’. The day ended with a pontifical mass. The subsequent aperitif provided an opportunity to share experiences from the Cisterscapes project and to find possibilities for further cooperation.
Saturday was all about hiking. After a pilgrimage blessing, abbot Johannes Maria Szypulski OCist, LAbg. ÖkR Franz Mold and Deputy District
Celebration guests after the unveiling of the information portal and gift presentation.Administrator Bruno Kellner unveiled the information portal on the Cistercian Way. Thankfully, it did not start to rain and so around 50 hikers set off from Zwettl Abbey towards Edelhof, a former grange of monastery Zwettl. On the way, archivist Andreas Gamerith talked about the abbey's epidemic hospital, which met the highest hygiene standards in the 19th century, the ponds and fish farming, the extravagant architecture of the church tower and other highlights from the Cistercian landscape. After lunch the programme was finished off with a guided tour in the town of Zwettl.
The Cistercian Way connects the 17 Cisterscapes partners in five European countries. It picks up the European idea of cohesion and peace and aims to connect Cistercian cultural landscapes and, above all, the people who live in these landscapes. In April 2024, the ‘Cisterscapes connecting Europe’ networking project was awarded the European Heritage Label. Building on Cisterscapes, close contacts developed between the Czech partner sites Vyšší Brod and Žd'ár nad Sázavou with Zwettl, which are now jointly implementing an ambitious Interreg project.