Fenster in die Landschaft (Window into the Landscape)
The views of Valentin Gappnigg
20.09.2025 - 11.01.2026 ,
Diözesanmuseum Freising (Diocesan Museum Freising)
- Free entry.
- Museum café.
- Shop.
For around 200 years, topographical views of Freising Abbey adorned the bright princely corridor between the episcopal residence and St Mary's Cathedral. Prince-Bishop Johann Franz Eckher (1649-1727) commissioned them after meeting the Styrian painter Valentin Gappnigg (1661/62-1736) on his inspection tour of the Austrian possessions. Between 1696 and 1702, he created 32 landscape-format views of the diocese, which were designed in stages one after the other and not as a complete series.
The delicate tempera paintings on primed paper mounted on canvas very accurately depict the embedding of the towns and villages in the landscape. In some cases, they are the earliest views of the communities.
Johann Franz Eckher turned the Fürstengang into a monument to Freising's history and autonomous claims to power by adding the vedute and a series of portraits of the Freising bishops with coats of arms and biographical texts.
Last edited on 12.01.2026
