Maulbronn Monastery

UNESCO World Heritage Site

Maulbronn Monastery Complex
Name as inscribed on the World Heritage List
Type	Cultural
Criteria	ii, iv
Reference	546
UNESCO region	Europe and North America
Inscription history
Inscription	1993 (17th Session)

Imperial Monastery of Maulbronn
Reichskloster Maulbronn
Imperial Abbey of the Holy Roman Empire
← 1147–1806 →
Layout of the Maulbronn Monastery
Capital		Maulbronn Abbey
Government		Theocracy
Historical era		Middle Ages
•	Founded as Imperial abbey	1147
•	Placed under Imperial     protection by Barbarossa	1156
•	Seized by Württemberg	1504
•	Monastery alternates between     Protestantism and Cistercians	1534–1651
•	Peace of Westphalia settles     monastery to Protestantism	1648
•	Secularised to Württemberg	1806
•	Seminary merged with     that of Bebenhausen	1818
Today part of		Germany

Maulbronn Monastery (German: Kloster Maulbronn) is the best-preserved medieval Cistercian monastery complex in Europe. It is situated on the outskirts of Maulbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany and is separated from the town by fortifications. In 1993 the monastery was made a UNESCO World Heritage site.

History

The monastery was founded in 1147 under the auspices of the first Cistercian pope, Eugenius III. The main church, built in a style transitional from Romanesque to Gothic, was consecrated in 1178 by Arnold, Bishop of Speyer. A number of other buildings — infirmary, refectory, cellar, auditorium, porch, south cloister, hall, another refectory, forge, inn, cooperage, mill, and chapel — followed in the course of the 13th century. The west, east and north cloisters date back to the 14th century, as do most fortifications and the fountain house or lavatorium.

After the Reformation broke out, Ulrich, Duke of Württemberg, seized the monastery in 1504, later building his hunting lodge and stables there. The monastery was pillaged repeatedly: first by the knights under Franz von Sickingen in 1519, then again during the German Peasants' War six years later. In 1534, Duke Ulrich secularised the monastery, but the Cistercians regained control — and Imperial recognition — under Charles V's Augsburg Interim. In 1556, Christoph, Duke of Württemberg, built a Protestant seminary, with Valentin Vannius becoming the first abbot two years later; Johannes Kepler studied there 1586–89.

In 1630, the abbey was returned to the Cistercians by force of arms, with Christoph Schaller von Sennheim becoming abbot. This restoration was short-lived, however, as Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden forced the monks to leave again two years later, with a Protestant abbot returning in 1633; the seminary reopened the following year, however the Cistercians under Schaller also returned in 1634. Under the Peace of Westphalia, in 1648, the confession of the monastery was settled in favour of Protestantism; with abbot Buchinger withdrawing in process. A Protestant abbacy was re-established in 1651, with the seminary reopening five years later. In 1692, the seminarians were removed to safety when Ezéchiel du Mas, Comte de Mélac, torched the school, which remained closed for a decade.

The monastery was secularised by Frederick I, King of Württemberg, in the course of the German Mediatisation in 1807, forever removing its political quasi-independence; the seminary merged with that of Bebenhausen the following year, now known as the Evangelical Seminaries of Maulbronn and Blaubeuren.

The monastery, which features prominently in Hermann Hesse's novel Beneath the Wheel, was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1993. The justification for the inscription was as follows: "The Maulbronn complex is the most complete survival of a Cistercian monastic establishment in Europe, in particular because of the survival of its extensive water-management system of reservoirs and channels". Hesse himself attended the monastery before fleeing in 1891 after a suicide attempt, and a failed attempt to save Hesse from his personal religious crisis by a well-known theologian and faith healer.

An image of Maulbronn Monastery is set to appear representing Baden-Württemberg on the obverse of the 2013 €2 commemorative coin for Germany.

View over the court

External links

Media related to Maulbronn Monastery complex at Wikimedia Commons

• Official website