Wittichen Abbey, Schenkenzell, Germany

Wittichen Abbey is a former Poor Clares abbey founded by Saint Luitgard of Wittichen in 1324. According to Luitgard, who came from the Schenkenzell village of Kaltbrunn-Vortal, God said to her on the site of the monastery: 'Here you are to build me a house!' So she searched for other co-sisters and founded her abbey in the outback of Wittichen with 33 sisters.

The abbey found support from the dukes of Teck and the counts of Geroldseck as well as Queen Agnes of Hungary. Through her intervention the retreat was recognised as an abbey by John XXII. It was in 1540 temporarily closed due to the Reformation and again in the Thirty Years' War (the abbey suffered heavy damages in 1640 and 1663. The monastery was secularized in 1803. After that the monastery came into the possession of the Princely House Furstenberg. Part of the buildings were demolished because of the high costs in the 1850s. The church, the nave and the monastery barn have been preserved, as well as the cemetery.

References:

Wikipedia

User Reviews

Markus (10 months ago)
Wittichen is a beautiful valley with an unbelievably refreshing air, there are very nice hiking trails through the forest and along the tree line where you can look down into the valley. The small monastery church that can be found in the village is very nicely designed from the inside and it also offers a free toilet. I recommend it to anyone who wants to go hiking in the deep Black Forest. Unfortunately only 4 stars because there is no infrastructure here, which I personally like very much.

mexgirl Espinoza (2 years ago)
We made a little stop to visit, wittchen abbey impressed me, ??

Hartmut Mäcker (2 years ago)
Nicely located, but little can be seen of the monastery itself.

Karin Schmid (4 years ago)
Definitely very interesting, unfortunately we were unlucky. The monastery and museum were closed on our visit day. Could only see from the outside, but the church was open. Inconspicuous from the outside, very imposing from the inside.

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Photo from Flickr, copyright Mark1792

Historic Site of the week

Rosenborg Castle

Rosenborg Palace was built in the period 1606-34 as Christian IV’s summerhouse just outside the ramparts of Copenhagen. Christian IV was very fond of the palace and often stayed at the castle when he resided in Copenhagen, and it was here that he died in 1648. After his death, the palace passed to his son King Frederik III, who together with his queen, Sophie Amalie, carried out several types of modernisation.

The last king who used the place as a residence was Frederik IV, and around 1720, Rosenborg was abandoned in favor of Frederiksborg Palace.Through the 1700s, considerable art treasures were collected at Rosenborg Castle, among other things items from the estates of deceased royalty and from Christiansborg after the fire there in 1794.

Soon the idea of a museum arose, and that was realised in 1833, which is The Royal Danish Collection’s official year of establishment.

Wittichen Abbey

Address

Details

More Information

Rating

Interesting Sites Nearby

User Reviews

Featured Historic Landmarks, Sites & Buildings

Exploring the History of Northern Poland

Discovering Slovenia's Historic Wonders

Historical Gems of Costa Verde

Historic Site of the week

Rosenborg Castle