Ittingen Charterhouse

Warth, Switzerland

Ittingen Charterhouse is a former Carthusian monastery near Warth. It is now used as an education and seminar centre with two museums and a farm. The monastery was founded in 1150 for the Canons Regular. In 1461 the premises were sold to the Carthusians.

In 1524, during the Reformation, the monastery was destroyed in the Ittingersturm, but was rebuilt during the Counter-Reformation. In 1798 the officials of the Helvetic Republic forbade the acceptance of novices and declared the monastery's assets the property of the state. Nevertheless the charterhouse survived until 1848, when it was finally dissolved.

Between 1867 and 1977 the estate was the private property of the Fehr family, who ran the former monastery and its land as an agricultural concern for several generations. The entire monastery precinct remained for the most part intact. After 1977 the property was taken over by the charitable foundation Kartause Ittingen and between 1979 and 1983 comprehensively restored.

The buildings now accommodate the art museum of Canton Thurgau, the Ittinger Museum and tecum, an Evangelical meeting and education centre. There is also a residential home here for about 30 people with either mental illnesses or learning difficulties who are employed round the various businesses on the site. In addition, there are two hotels with 67 rooms altogether, and the restaurant Zur Mühle. The agricultural concern is among the biggest in the canton. As well as standard agriculture, grapes and hops are grown and from them wine and beer produced (the beer is brewed by Calanda Bräu in Chur) and milk from the estate's own cows is used for the production of various cheeses.

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Details

Founded: 1150
Category: Religious sites in Switzerland

Rating

4.4/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

Capeto BaPa (2 years ago)
This ex monastery is a nice place for a Sunday or afternoon walk, drink a coffee and eat something. It has a small shop where you can buy regional Products. Definitely a place to visit, have a nice view of the valley and breathe some fresh air. Very nice gardens whith interactive stops, find a lot of plants and their names. In certain dates they organize concerts and they also have a museum.
Emanuel H (2 years ago)
When you cancel a concert based on the player nacionality you are given a very strong state of hate. I deman from now on the ban of all russian culture from your museum and all music from russian composeres, books, etc. And since your institution is ruled by people without personal judgement, you can make concerts with ukranian, israeli and american musicians and composers. This will show your true support to western nations
Zachar Fedorov (2 years ago)
Shame on you. Cancel concert just because Kolbekina is Russian is really disappointing…
Laurel McDonald (3 years ago)
Lovely place to visit. I was surprised how much there is to see and to explore. The restaurant was absolutely delicious and the service was perfect. I bought some cheese and wine at the store to bring home. Perfect day.
David B (5 years ago)
Very interesting, not good for monolingual English speakers however.
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