Kastl Abbey

Kastl Abbey, founded in 1101 as a Benedictine monastery in the Oberpfalz region of Bavaria, retains significant Romanesque and Gothic fabric including a medieval cloister that marks it as one of the region's more substantial monastic survivals. Over the centuries the site changed hands repeatedly — Benedictines gave way to Jesuits, who were followed by the Knights of Malta — reflecting the turbulent ecclesiastical politics of the region. After secularization the buildings found an unexpected use from 1958 as a Hungarian-language boarding school for exiles who fled after the 1956 uprising, a function it served until 2006. Following extensive renovation work begun in 2017, the Bavarian state reopened the complex in 2023 as a campus of its public-service university, specializing in police training. The exterior fabric remains protected as a listed monument, and the medieval profile of the abbey is still clearly legible from the surrounding village.