Pfarrheim Ebensee (Benefiziatenhaus)

The parish hall and parish center Ebensee are venues for a variety of interesting events.THE HISTORY:It is a peculiar house, the Benehaus. Downstairs is the official delivery address; upstairs, from the church square, is currently the main entrance. It spans four floors and is built into the rock.The first resident chaplain, approved in 1656, named Ison, had to be provided with a "comfortable place for a proper dwelling" by the Verwesamt. Later, in 1710, the Verwesamt permitted the "construction of an upper floor on the Reverend Chaplain's dwelling."In 1733, a second priest was employed, who could be paid from a foundation established by Mathias Khernegger, innkeeper and master miller, owner of Hotel Post. This foundation was a so-called Benefizium (benefice). The chaplain and benefice holder presumably lived in "the Reverend Chaplain's [extended] dwelling."Now comes a confusing story. In 1788, the Josephinian land register shows: "Koch's dwelling in Badergasse, with wooden huts and herb garden, owner Anna Maria Kochin" with the address Unterlangbath 16. From the parish chronicle, it can be gathered that Pastor Johann Ev. Kurrany bought the "old Koch house" in 1844 and donated it to the parish, and only then did it become the Benefiziatenhaus (benefice house). The address Unterlangbath 16 comes from the old Koch house. A baker Christoph Schachenreüther is already documented at this address in 1678. One can only guess where "the Reverend Chaplain's dwelling" was located. Incidentally, the parish church still does not have its own address today.In 1940, all priests had to move from the Benefiziatenhaus to the rectory because space was needed for the church choir and the music archive. The municipality had terminated the previous rehearsal room in the old school.At times, several families lived in the Benehaus, mostly sacristan families.In 1948, the former apartment of sacristan Johann Lüftinger was redesigned so that the public library could move from Marktgasse into the Benehaus. 30 years later, it moved out again and went one house further into the former Oberbank.By 1951 at the latest, young people had moved in; they renovated "their" rooms at low cost. In 1953, there was a "commissioning of the parish hall"; it had been renovated for around S 100,000, and likewise in 1976 for S 40,000.In 1975, Chaplain Windischhofer arrived. With his help, the youth group Corazon was founded and took up residence in the Benehaus.In 1983, a general renovation of the Benefiziatenhaus was completed at a cost of S 5,000,000. The parish had to raise a quarter of the cost. From now on, it is the parish hall with the parish center, where many groups have their own areas.