The Dom zu St. Pölten, also known as Dom Mariä Himmelfahrt, dates back to the 13th century. Though the exterior might appear somewhat plain, the beautiful Baroque interior makes this cathedral in the capital of Lower Austria worth checking out. The use of the site for religious buildings is believed to date from around 790, when a Benedictine monastery was established here, to which were brought the relics of Saint Hippolytus, after whom the present city is named. In 828, the monastery became a possession of the Diocese of Passau, and a centre of missionary activity, predominantly in Great Moravia. After the invasion of the Magyars in around 907, the monastery was almost entirely destroyed, and was not rebuilt until after the Battle of Lechfeld in 955. The first documentary reference is in a charter of 976 from Emperor Otto II to Bishop Pilgrim of Passau. Under Bishop Altmann of Passau the abbey became an Augustinian canonry, which was dissolved in 1784 as part of the Josephine Reforms
