Osterhofen Abbey
| Kloster Osterhofen | |
Copper engraving of the Monastery by Johann Ulrich Kraus from the "Churbaierischen Atlas" of Anton Wilhelm Ertl, 1687
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 Location within Bavaria
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| Monastery information | |
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| Other names | Altenmarkt Abbey |
| Order | Premonstratensian |
| Established | 1128 |
| Disestablished | 1783 |
| Dedicated to | Saint Margaret |
| Diocese | Passau |
| People | |
| Founder(s) | Bishop Otto von Bamberg |
| Architecture | |
| Functional Status | In use |
| Site | |
| Coordinates | 48°41′30″N 13°00′55″E / 48.6916°N 13.0153°ECoordinates: 48°41′30″N 13°00′55″E / 48.6916°N 13.0153°E |
Osterhofen Abbey (German: Kloster Osterhofen, also called Altenmarkt Convent German: Altenmarkt-Damenstift) is a former monastery in Bavaria, Germany, It is located in the Altenmarkt section of Osterhofen, a town to the south of the Danube between Deggendorf and Vilshofen / Passau. It has its origins in a collegiate built in 1004–09. From 1128 to 1783 it was a Premonstratensian monastery. For a while it was then a convent. Today it contains a girls' secondary school. The former abbey church, a magnificent late baroque building erected in 1726–40, is now the Basilica of Saint Margaret.
Henry V, Duke of Bavaria and his wife Luitgard erected a collegiate abbey of Augustinian Canons in his palace in Osterhofen in 1004–09. In 1017 the Emperor Henry II of Germany transferred the abbey to the diocese of Bamberg. In 1128 Bishop Otto of Bamberg brought men and women from the Premonstratensian Ursberg Abbey to the Osterhofen collegiate abbey. The abbey was endowed with extensive properties in the Wachau valley of Austria. The female branch of the abbey was probably extinct after 1200. In 1288 the head of the abbey become a provost. In 1414 the abbot was granted the right to wear the miter in liturgical celebrations.
Through its history, the monastery and the town had a checkered history, suffering damage from warfare and fire. There was a fire in the monastery in 1512. In 1701 a major fire caused by lightning destroyed the monastery. It was rebuilt in 1717–27. The former Gothic church also suffered great damage, and in 1726 it was decided to erect a new building. The fantastically ornamented monastery church was designed and built in 1726–40.
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