Edelstetten Monastery

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Edelstetten Monastery (photographed from the road to Neuburg)
Abbey building and church of St. John the Baptist and St. John the Evangelist from the west

The Edelstetten Monastery is a former canonical monastery in Edelstetten ( Neuburg an der Kammel municipality ) in Bavaria in the diocese of Augsburg . The former monastery is one of the outstanding baroque buildings in the Günzburg district , which is why the area of ​​the district is also called the Swabian Baroque Corner . The monastery is the seat of the Swabian Literature Palace Edelstetten eV

history

The SS. Johannes Baptist u. Evangelist as well as monastery consecrated to St. Paul was founded in 1126. According to tradition, the founder and first abbess of the monastery, which was founded as an Augustinian choir monastery, was Gisela von Schwabegg-Balzhausen , whose coat of arms the monastery also adopted. The Ursberg Monastery, only a few kilometers away , was also founded by this noble family. The screen bailiwick lay until 1460, when the monastery they bought as a pledge in which Mark Burgau . In 1153, the blessed Mechthild von Dießen , who came from the Augustinian Choir Monastery in Dießen , was appointed abbess to Edelstetten to reform the monastery. However, after six years she returned there unsuccessfully. In 1283 the number of noble choir women was limited to thirteen by the Augsburg bishop. By 1500 at the latest, Edelstetten was recognized as a secular canonical monastery, which the women's monastery had apparently been trying to achieve since it was founded. Usually seven women choirs lived in the monastery, who lived according to statutes without taking vows. With the exception of the abbesses, who were elected for life, the choir women could leave and marry at any time, so it was more of a provision for daughters of the lower Swabian nobility than a monastery. As a result of the recognition as a secular canonical monastery , the place, which until then was called Oetlinstetten , was renamed Edelstetten .

The monastery was destroyed three times. The first time in the 14th century, the second time in 1525 during the Peasants' War and the third time in the Thirty Years War , in 1632 by the Swedes.

Maria Carolina von Westernach (1657–1727), Abbess of Edelstetten

Today's baroque monastery complex was created during the monastery’s greatest heyday, which lasted from around 1680 to 1725. From 1682 to 1705, the new construction of the monastery buildings was carried out according to plans by the Vorarlberg master builder Michael Thumb , who a few years earlier designed the monastery buildings and the collegiate church in Wettenhausen Monastery just a few kilometers to the north . In the period between 1709 and 1712, today's church of St. Johannes Baptist and Johannes Evangelist was built as the south wing of the monastery complex according to plans by Father Christoph Vogt from the Ottobeuren Benedictine monastery , which, like the previous building, was both the local collegiate church and parish church. The construction was carried out by Simpert Kraemer , for whom this construction was the first major order. The completion of the furnishing dragged on until the second half of the 18th century. In 1783, 20 years before secularization , the monastery was elevated to the status of an imperial abbey .

In 1803, Prince Ligne received the rule of Edelstetten as compensation for the County of Fagnolle in Hainaut . In 1804/1805 Prince Nikolaus II Esterházy de Galantha acquired the complex that still belongs to Prince Esterházy today. Shortly afterwards, the rule of Edelstetten was elevated to a princely imperial county. A year later, Edelstetten - like the entire area between Iller and Lech - became part of Bavaria as a result of the Peace of Pressburg .

All buildings were preserved. The interior of the representative rooms from the 18th century with the important stucco work, for example the Chinese hall , was also retained. Most of the interior of the castle is only accessible in exceptional cases. The church is still Edelstetten's parish church today.

The very valuable baroque nativity scene, in which the Christmas story is depicted in seven scenes, has also been preserved and is presented as a museum every year during the Christmas season in rooms of the castle, including the former chapter house . The seven scenes are: adoration of the shepherds, adoration of the kings, offering in the temple, child murder in Bethlehem, house in Nazereth, twelve-year-old Jesus in the temple and wedding in Canaa. The district of Günzburg is also called the Swabian nativity paradise because of this nativity scene .

The Swabian Literature Castle Edelstetten Association has existed since March 2009 . First, the association will organize readings or award ceremonies in the castle. In the long term, if the appropriate financial resources are available, the aim is to found a museum for Swabian literature and language .

See also

literature

  • Bernt von Hagen, Angelika Wegener-Hüssen: Landkreis Günzburg (= Bavarian State Office for Monument Preservation [Hrsg.]: Monuments in Bavaria . Volume VII.91 / 1 ). Karl M. Lipp Verlag, Munich 2004, ISBN 3-87490-589-6 , p. 394-398 .

Web links

Commons : Kloster Edelstetten  - Collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikisource: Edelstetten Monastery  - Sources and full texts

Individual evidence

  1. Article in the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung - Mittelschwäbische Nachrichten (augsburger-allgemeine.de) from March 19, 2009: Maintaining local dialect and literature (accessed on March 4, 2010)
  2. Article in the Augsburger Allgemeine Zeitung - Mittelschwäbische Nachrichten (augsburger-allgemeine.de) from November 17, 2008: A “literary castle” in Edelstetten? (Accessed March 4, 2010)

Coordinates: 48 ° 17 ′ 55 "  N , 10 ° 23 ′ 41.3"  E