Georgenthal Monastery

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Georgenthal Monastery
View over the ruins of the monastery
View over the ruins of the monastery
location Germany
Thuringia
Lies in the diocese formerly Mainz
Coordinates: 50 ° 49 '44 "  N , 10 ° 39' 33"  E Coordinates: 50 ° 49 '44 "  N , 10 ° 39' 33"  E
Serial number
according to Janauschek 		166
Patronage St. Mary
and St. George
founding year 1142
Year of dissolution /
annulment 		1528
Mother monastery Morimond Monastery
Primary Abbey Morimond Monastery

Daughter monasteries

Georgenzell Monastery
(Priorat)
1315–1531
Johannistal Monastery
near Eisenach
(1256–1526; dependent on Georgenthal)

Front view of the granary
Rear view of the granary

The Georgenthal Monastery ( Abbatia Vallis Sancti Georgii ) is a former Cistercian abbey in Georgenthal 16 km south of Gotha in Thuringia .

history

The monastery was founded around 1152 by Count Sizzo III. Donated by Käfernburg on the Georgenberg near Altenbergen in the abandoned Asolveroth castle complex as a family monastery and occupied in 1143 with the first abbot and Cistercian monks directly from the French mother monastery Morimond . Among them was Everhard von Berg , the son of Count Adolf I von Berg . The original Asolveroth mountain monastery is said to have been relocated to the valley between 1186 and 1192. The monastery gained great influence and property. Guardian bailiffs of the monastery were the Counts of Kevernburg until they died out in 1385. Then the Landgraves of Thuringia took over this task from the House of Wettin . It reached its heyday at the beginning of the 16th century. From 1505 to 1508 Spalatin was employed as a novice teacher in the monastery. During the Peasants' War in 1525 it was looted and almost completely destroyed, the members of the convent fled to the Augustinian monastery in Gotha. In 1528 the monastery was dissolved by Johann the Steadfast . The facility then served as a quarry. The ruins of the three-aisled, cross-shaped basilica with the dimensions 20 × 70 m with a change of pillars and a staggered choir according to Hirsauer scheme illustrate the dimensions of the monastery complex. The pillared room on the north side of the choir is a special feature of the complex, it is the substructure of the only two-story abbot's apartment.

The Saxon office of Georgenthal was formed in 1531 from ten monastic locations .

St. Elisabeth Church, formerly a chapel for the staff of the monastery

Plant and buildings

Only ruins can be seen of the actual monastery complex; however, the foundation walls of the monastery were exposed between 1840 and 1906. One of the most important excavators from 1892 on was Paul Baethcke , who had previously worked as a pastor in Schwarzhausen . The church, probably the first vaulted structure in Thuringia, was a three-aisled basilica , originally with a staggered choir , later (around 1250) with a large rectangular choir with a chapel wreath based on the scheme of the church of Cîteaux II . To the north of the church, the remains of the building (probably the abbot's house ) with two three-aisled halls separated by a corridor were excavated. Foundations of the cloister and cloister were found south of the church (with a well house in the form of a six-pass ).

The rediscovered lower part of a Romanesque cloister fountain was re-erected at the point where the fountain house was previously located in the cloister of the former monastery. The sandstone pool is profiled and has a diameter of 170 cm. Its outlines show the shape of a twelve-pass .

From the monastery complex, the granary (probably originally the infirmary ) west of the church, a broad solid building with a tracery rose in the north gable wall (local history museum), has been preserved. The “Schloss” (nursing home), a complex rebuilt in the 16th and 17th centuries, in which the former guest house is believed to be located, is also located in the former monastery district. The groin vaulted porter's house dates from the 13th century. The former chapel for the employees of the monastery became the St. Elisabeth Church in Georgenthal.

Grave slab of Count Sizzo von Schwarzburg-Käfernburg

In the grounds of the monastery ruins, in the former abbey church, there is the grave slab of Count Sizzo III. von Käfernburg and his wife. However, it is not the original plate, but one that was donated in 1895 by "Your Highness, the ruling Prince of Schwarzburg". The Latin inscription commemorates the count and his wife, the founders of the monastery. In 1995 the crypt and the slab were renovated by the history association.

Possessions of the monastery

The following possessions belonged to the monastery in the 13th century through donations:

literature

  • Georg Dehio (greeting), Stephanie Eißing, Franz Jäger: Handbook of German art monuments - Thuringia. Deutscher Kunstverlag, Munich / Berlin 1998, pp. 438–439 (with floor plan of the church ruins).
  • Egon Hennig, Roland Scharff: On the history of the St. Georgen mountain monastery near Catterfeld, district of Gotha. In: Alt-Thüringen 7 1964/65. 1965, pp. 307-314.
  • Alois Holtmeyer: Cistercian churches of Thuringia. Jena 1906, pp. 225-250.
  • Peter Pfister: monastery leader of all Cistercian monasteries in the German-speaking area. Éditions du Signe, 2nd edition, Strasbourg 1998, p. 497, ISBN 2-87718-596-6 .
  • Ambrosius Schneider: Lexical overview of the male monasteries of the Cistercians in the German language and cultural area. In Schneider / Wienand / Bickel / Coester: The Cistercians, History - Spirit - Art. 3rd edition, Wienand Verlag, Cologne 1986, p. 655, ISBN 3-87909-132-3 .
  • Heinrich Stiehler: Monastery and place Georgenthal. A journey through the individual times. First part: the monastery from its foundation to its demise. Glaeser, Gotha 1891 ( digitized version ) (Reprint Verlag Rockstuhl 2004, ISBN 3-936030-78-2 )

Web links

Commons : Kloster Georgenthal  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Community portrait