Disibodenberg Monastery

Disibodenberg is a monastery ruin in Rhineland-Palatinate. It was founded by Saint Disibod. Hildegard of Bingen, who wrote Disibod's biography Vita Sancti Disibodi, lived in Disibodenberg for 39 years.

In 640, Disibod came as a missionary from Ireland to Francia. After working for 10 years in Vosges and Ardennes, he arrived near Odernheim am Glan and started teaching there. After his death, the monastery was founded. The Normans and the Hungarians plundered and destroyed the site several times, but Archbishop Willigis of Mainz rebuilt the church and monastery in the 10th century.

The monastery survived until the 16th century. It was plundered in 1504 by Bayern army and securalized in 1559. It was again damaged and looted in Thirty Years' War. Today the ruins lie in a charming setting between the rivers Glan and Nahe. Embedded in the Romanesque park created by the famous Heidelberg garden artist Johann Metzger in the mid-19th century, it lies on the plateau of the hill. On a tour of the monastery ruins, one can still clearly recognise the layout of the monastic complex.

Address
Odernheim am Glan, Germany

Established
8th century AD