Monasteries in Germany
Frauenberg Abbey
Frauenberg Franciscan monastery, founded in 1623, is situated in a park at the top of one of Fulda’s seven hills. From here you have a magnificent view of the city and the Rhön and Vogelsberg mountains. The monastery is a late baroque construction with a very fine interior which has undergone intensive restoration work.
Founded: 1623 |
Location:
Fulda, Germany
Windberg Abbey
Windberg Abbey was founded by Count Albert I of Bogen with the assistance of Bishop Otto of Bamberg on the site of the original seat of the Counts of Bogen. Initially it was not a specifically Premonstratensian foundation, but was transferred to the order as an already established community between 1121 and 1146. The quire of the church was dedicated in 1142 by Heinrich Zdik, Bishop of Olmütz, in the presence of Coun ...
Founded: 1121-1146 |
Location:
Windberg, Germany
Schäftlarn Abbey
Schäftlarn Abbey was founded in 762 by Waltrich, a Benedictine monk of noble family, on his own land. During the next two centuries the monastery grew as a result of various gifts and endowments (among them the estates of Schwabing and Hesselohe). From 1140 to its dissolution during the secularisation of Bavaria in 1803, Schäftlarn belonged to the Premonstratensian Order. In 1866 King Ludwig I of Bavaria restored posse ...
Founded: 762 AD |
Location:
Schäftlarn, Germany
Wessobrunn Abbey
Wessobrunn Abbey was founded in about 753 and dedicated to Saint Peter. According a legend Duke Tassilo III of Bavaria was hunting nearby and had a vision of three springs, which his servant Wezzo duly discovered the next day (the name means Wesso or Wezzo"s spring(s)). The three springs are still to be seen, but there is otherwise no evidence of the truth of the story, and it is likely that the founders were a local ...
Founded: c. 753 AD |
Location:
Wessobrunn, Germany
Seeon Abbey
Seeon Abbey was a Benedictine monastery founded in 994 by Pfalzgraf Aribo I of Bavaria and settled by Benedictine monks from St. Emmeram"s Abbey, Regensburg. The monastery is on an island in the lake Seeoner See. The abbey soon developed a significant scriptorium, producing manuscripts not only for the abbey"s own use but also for other monasteries and churches. Their most important client was Emperor Henry II, ...
Founded: 994 AD |
Location:
Seeon-Seebruck, Germany
Heisterbach Abbey Ruins
Heisterbach Abbey was a Cistercian monastery in the Siebengebirge near Oberdollendorf. The tradition of its origin is that a knight named Walther lived as a hermit on the Stromberg, also known as the Petersberg, one of the mountains forming the Siebengebirge. When numerous disciples began to settle near his cell, he built a monastery in 1134, where the community lived according to the Rule of St. Augustine. After t ...
Founded: 1189 |
Location:
Oberdollendorf, Germany
Michaelsberg Abbey
Michaelsberg Abbey is situated on the Michaelsberg ('St. Michael"s Mount'), about 40 metres above the town of Siegburg. The hill was first inhabited about 800 by the Counts of Auelgau, who built a castle there. In 1064 the Archbishop of Cologne, Anno II of Cologne, founded a monastery there, dedicated to the Archangel Michael, from whom both the mountain and the abbey henceforward took their names. H ...
Founded: 1064 |
Location:
Siegburg, Germany
Eldena Abbey Ruins
Eldena Abbey, originally Hilda Abbey, is a former Cistercian monastery. Only ruins survive, which are well known as a frequent subject of Caspar David Friedrich"s paintings. In the 12th century the Baltic coast south of the island of Rügen belonged to the Rani principality of Rügen, which in its turn was subject to the Danes. The Danish Cistercian monastery, Esrum Abbey, was thus able to found a daughter h ...
Founded: 1199-1204 |
Location:
Greifswald, Germany
Franciscan Friary
The Franciscan Friary of Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a former friary of the Conventual Franciscans in the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. The friary, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, was founded in 1281 by Hermann von Hornburg, Schultheiß of Rothenburg, and others. It was wound up in 1548 in the wake of the Reformation. The buildings of the friary, vacated voluntarily, were used initially for the establishment of a ...
Founded: 1281 |
Location:
Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany
Niederaltaich Abbey
Niederaltaich Abbey was founded in 731 or possibly 741 by Duke Odilo of Bavaria. The monastery, dedicated to Saint Maurice, was settled by monks from Reichenau Abbey under Saint Pirmin. Eberswind, the first abbot, is considered the compiler of the Lex Baiuvariorum, the first code of law of the Bavarian people. The monastery brought great areas of Lower Bavaria into cultivation as far as the territory of the present Czech ...
Founded: 731-741 AD |
Location:
Niederalteich, Germany
Banz Abbey
Banz Abbey, now known as Schloss Banz, is a former Benedictine monastery. It was founded in about 1070 by Countess Alberada of Schweinfurt and her husband, Count Hermann of Habsberg-Kastl, and until the secularisation of 1803 was the oldest monastery on the upper Main. In the late Middle Ages and until 1575 only members of the nobility were accepted as monks. After the Thirty Years" War the abbey had to be re-built. ...
Founded: c. 1070 |
Location:
Bad Staffelstein, Germany
Zarrentin Abbey
The Cistercian Zarrentin Abbey was founded around 1250 and securalized in 1552 due the Reformation. Parts of the monastery have survived and the the abbey church is today a parish church.
Founded: 1250 |
Location:
Zarrentin, Germany
Cappenberg Castle
Cappenberg Castle is a former Premonstratensian monastery. The Counts of Cappenberg, who were related to the Salians and the Staufers, were a rich and powerful family. During the Investiture Controversy, when they supported Duke Lothar von Supplinburg against Emperor Heinrich V, Count Gottfried von Cappenberg and his brother Otto von Cappenberg led their armies against Münster in February 1121 under the ...
Founded: 1122 |
Location:
Selm, Germany
Limburg Abbey Ruins
In the 9th century, the Salian Dukes from Worms built a fortress on the Linthberg as their family seat. In the early 11th century, the fortress was converted into a Limburg monastery with a basilica. It existed until the mid-16th century, today impressive ruins remains.
Founded: 11th century |
Location:
Bad Dürkheim, Germany
St. Ottilien Archabbey
St. Ottilien Archabbey is a Benedictine monastery in Emming near Eresing and the Ammersee. It is the mother house of the St. Ottilien Congregation, otherwise known as the Missionary Benedictines. In the 16th century a small castle was built at Emming, including a chapel dedicated to Saint Ottilia. Both castle and chapel were made over in the Baroque style in the 17th century. After several changes of owner, and the demo ...
Founded: 1884 |
Location:
Eresing, Germany
Cismar Abbey
Cismar Abbey was a Benedictine monastery founded in 1238 by Count Adolf IV of Holstein as alternative accommodation for Benedictine monks from Lübeck. In the mid-15th century it was one of the six original members of the influential Bursfelde Congregation, a Benedictine reform movement. After three prosperous centuries, based largely on its possession of a relic of the blood of Christ and a healing spring dedicated t ...
Founded: 1238 |
Location:
Cismar, Germany
Edelstetten Abbey
Edelstetten monastery, dedicated to Saints John the Baptist and St. Paul was founded in 1126. According to the tradition the founder and first abbess was Mechthild an Augustinian choir woman. Mechthild of Dießen arrived in 1153 and was appointed abbess by the Bishop of Edelstetten to reform the pin. However, after six years, she returned unsuccessful back there. In 1460, the monastery was incorporated into the Margr ...
Founded: 1126 |
Location:
Edelstetten, Germany
Schlehdorf Abbey
Schlehdorf Abbey was originally a Benedictine monastery, later an Augustinian monastery, and is today a convent of the Missionary Dominican Sisters of King William's Town. The abbey, dedicated to Saints Dionysius and Tertullinus, was founded around perhaps 740 from the nearby Benediktbeuern Abbey. In 769 it was resettled by monks from the abandoned Scharnitz Abbey. The first abbot, Atto, brought with him the relics of Sa ...
Founded: 740-769 AD |
Location:
Schlehdorf, Germany
Mariawald Abbey
Mariawald Abbey is a monastery of the Trappists (formally known as the Cistercians of the Strict Observance), located above the village of Heimbach. Following Heinrich Fluitter"s vision of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a shrine and chapel were built on the site of it, which became a place of pilgrimage, the Marienwallfahrt. For the proper care of the site and the pilgrims land was given in 1480 to the Cistercian ...
Founded: 1486 |
Location:
Heimbach, Germany
Ensdorf Abbey
Ensdorf Abbey was a house of the Benedictine Order, dedicated to Saint James. It was founded in 1121 by Pfalzgraf Otto of Wittelsbach. The monastery was dissolved in 1556 but restored in 1669, only to be dissolved again in 1802 in the secularisation of the period. The premises were taken over in 1920 by the Salesians of Don Bosco, who still occupy them.
Founded: 1121 |
Location:
Ensdorf, Germany