In the Rajhenburg Castle in Brestanica, the Museum of recent and modern history of Slovenia, which has its own museum unit at the castle, opened the Trappists permanent exhibition in Rajhenburg years ago. The monastery of Mary the Savior in Rajhenburg was the only monastery of the Trappist order in Slovenia. The first exhibition about the life and work of this order in our country was opened in the castle back in 1993. Due to the comprehensive restoration of the castle building, the exhibition was removed and a new one was prepared, where for the first time numerous museum objects, which were received as a gift from numerous donors in the period from the first installation to the present day, are on display. We are most proud of the abbot's six mass cloaks, the golden mitre and also many other exhibits.
The order of the Trappists was founded in France in 1664. It is an order of reformed Cistercians. In 1880, the French authorities dissolved the Dumb monastery in the vicinity of L 6iton, and the monks of this monastery sought a new home. They arrived in Rajhenburg, where baron Christian Esebeck was selling the castle. With the money of brother Gabriel Giraud, the monks bought the castle and many properties and converted it into the monastery of Mary the Savior.
The Trappists adhered to the Ora ET LABORA River-pray and work. They devoted more than six hours a day to prayer, and about the same amount of time they worked. Their rule was-everything you need for your life, do it yourself. They were engaged in various branches of the economy. They cultivated extensive estates, brought new cultures and a machine-like way of cultivating the land. Already in 1929 they bought a tractor, which was the first in Posavje. Despite the fact that they did not consume meat, they built stables, raised many livestock and made the famous Trappist cheese from milk. They were engaged in viticulture, made wine, and also made sparkling wine. The first began to spray vines against downy mildew with a solution of blue galitsa. They planted many fruit trees, were engaged in beekeeping and had plantations of medicinal flowers. They had all kinds of craft workshops where they made products for themselves and also for sale. As early as 1896, they started the industrial production of chocolate, chocolate products and liqueurs. In the newly built buildings, machines were placed, which were brought from France and started production. To power the machines, they built their own hydroelectric power plant on the brestanica stream, which was the first of its kind on direct current power in Lower Styria. Their products were of high quality and were bought even by the imperial court from Vienna. Emperor Franz Joseph awarded the Trappists in 1912 with the award for the quality of their products and the title Imperial, which became the brand of their products. The Trappists also had their own printing house, where they printed books, brochures, postcards, chocolate covers and liqueur stickers.
In April 1941, the castle was occupied by the Germans and a resettlement camp was arranged in it for the expulsion of Slovenes. In August 1941, they also expelled 35 monks who found refuge in the Maria Zvezda monastery in Banja Luka. After the war ended, they returned from exile, but in 1947 the Rajhenburg castle was nationalized and the order of Trappist monks was dissolved.
Exhibition author: Irena F
Opening hours are available online.
V gradu Rajhenburg v Brestanici je Muzej novejše in sodobne zgodovine Slovenije, ki ima na gradu svojo muzejsko enoto, pred leti odprl stalno razstavo Trapisti v Rajhenburgu. Samostan Marije Rešiteljice v Rajhenburgu je bil edini samostan reda trapistov v Sloveniji. Prvo razstavo o življenju in delu tega reda pri nas smo na gradu odprli že leta 1993. Zaradi celovite obnove grajske stavbe smo razstavo odstranili in pripravili novo, na kateri so prvič na ogled številni muzejski predmeti, ki smo jih v času od prve postavitve do danes prejeli v dar od številnih darovalcev. Najbolj smo ponosni na šest opatovih mašnih plaščev, na zlato mitro in tudi na številne druge eksponate.
Red trapistov je bil ustanovljen v Franciji leta 1664. To je red reformiranih cistercijanov. Leta 1880 je francoska oblast razpustila samostan Dumb v bližini Lyona in menihi tega samostana so iskali nov dom. Prišli so v Rajhenburg, kjer je baron Christian Esebeck prodajal grad. Z denarjem brata Gabriela Girauda so menihi kupili grad in številne posesti in ga preuredili v samostan Marije Rešiteljice.
Trapisti so se držali reka ORA ET LABORA – moli in delaj. Dnevno so posvetili molitvi več kot šest ur, približno toliko časa pa so tudi delali. Njihovo pravilo je bilo – vse, kar potrebuješ za svoje življenje, naredi sam. Ukvarjali so se z različnimi vejami gospodarstva. Obdelovali so obsežna posestva, prinesli nove kulture in strojni način obdelovanja zemlje. Že leta 1929 so kupili traktor, ki je bil prvi v Posavju. Kljub temu, da mesa niso uživali, so zgradili hleve, redili veliko živine in iz mleka izdelovali znani sir Trapist. Ukvarjali so se z vinogradništvom, pridelovali vino in izdelovali tudi peneče vino. Prvi so začeli škropiti vinsko trto proti peronospori z raztopino modre galice. Nasadili so veliko sadnega drevja, ukvarjali so se s čebelarstvom in imeli nasade zdravilnih rož. Imeli so vse vrste obrtnih delavnic, kjer so delali izdelke zase in tudi za prodajo. Že 1896 pa so začeli z industrijsko proizvodnjo čokolade, čokoladnih izdelkov in likerjev. V novozgrajenih stavbah so postavili stroje, ki so jih pripeljali iz Francije in začeli s proizvodnjo. Za pogon strojev so na potoku Brestanica zgradili lastno hidroelektrarno, ki je bila prva tovrstna elektrarna na enosmerni električni tok na Spodnjem Štajerskem. Njihovi izdelki so bili zelo kvalitetni in jih je kupoval celo cesarski dvor z Dunaja. Cesar Franc Jožef je trapistom 1912 podelil priznanje za kvaliteto izdelkov in naziv Imperial, ki je postal blagovna znamka njihovih proizvodov. Trapisti so imeli tudi svojo tiskarno, kjer so tiskali knjige, brošure, razglednice, ovitke za čokolade in nalepke za likerje.
Aprila 1941 so grad zasedli Nemci in v njem uredili preselitveno taborišče za izgon Slovencev. Avgusta 1941 so izgnali tudi 35 menihov, ki so našli zatočišče v samostanu Marija Zvezda v Banja Luki. Po končani vojni so se iz izgnanstva vrnili, a leta 1947 je bil grad Rajhenburg nacionaliziran in red menihov trapistov je bil razpuščen.
Avtorica razstave: Irena Fürst
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