St. Lambrecht, a Benedictine Abbey, was founded in the 12th century by Henry III, Duke of Carinthia. The monastery complex was built in 1640 to designs by Domenico Sciassi. The church dates from the 14th century, but it was rebuilt in the Baroque style and today it is a triplenave basilica with medieval frescoes on the walls and presbytery ceiling, and statues of the church’s fathers in the organ enclosure. The main altar (1632) by Valentine Khautt is 16 m (52 ft) high. North of the church, by the cemetery, stands a 12thcentury Romanesque chapel. The abbey also has a magnificent library and an interesting museum with a collection of the old furnishings of church and abbey, including Romanesque sculptures, a 15thcentury votive painting, The Mount of Olives, by Hans von Tubingen, and 15th- and 16thcentury stainedglass panels. The gem of the museum, however, is its collection of birds. Some 1,500 species were assembled in the 19th century by the amateur collector Blasius Hanf.
