Maulbronn Monastery

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Maulbronn Monastery
Monastery front and Romanesque, later Gothic monastery church with vestibule
Monastery
front and Romanesque, later Gothic monastery church with vestibule
location Germany
Baden-Wuerttemberg
Coordinates: 49 ° 0 '4 "  N , 8 ° 48' 46.4"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 0 '4 "  N , 8 ° 48' 46.4"  E
Serial number
according to Janauschek
139
Patronage Maria
founding year 1138 / 1147
Year of dissolution /
annulment
1534
Mother monastery Neuburg Monastery
Primary Abbey Morimond Monastery

Daughter monasteries

Bronnbach Monastery (around 1150)
Schöntal Monastery (1157)

Maulbronn Monastery
UNESCO world heritage UNESCO World Heritage Emblem
National territory: GermanyGermany Germany
Type: Culture
Criteria : (ii) (iv)
Reference No .: 546
UNESCO region : Europe and North America
History of enrollment
Enrollment: 1993  (session 17)
Maulbronn Monastery in the 1684 forest inventory book by Andreas Kieser
Well house, interior view
Coat of arms of the Lords of Enzberg

The Maulbronn Monastery is a former Cistercian abbey in the town center of Maulbronn . The small town and monastery are located on the southwestern edge of the Stromberg , which rises in the Kraichgau south of the Odenwald and north of the Black Forest . The nearest large city is the Baden-Württemberg Pforzheim . Maulbronn is considered to be the best preserved medieval monastery north of the Alps . All styles and levels of development from Romanesque to late Gothic are represented here.

The complex, which is enclosed by a wall, now houses, among other things, several restaurants, the police, the town hall of Maulbronn and other administrative offices. In the monastery buildings there is also a Protestant grammar school with boarding school ( Protestant seminars Maulbronn and Blaubeuren ).

The monastery Maulbronn since December 1993 World Heritage of UNESCO .

history

founding

Under the aegis of the abbot Bernhard von Clairvaux , the Cistercian order was also very popular in today's Germany. In southwest Germany, the noble free Walter von Lomersheim was infected by the enthusiasm. He donated his Eckenweiher estate between Mühlacker and Lienzingen to found a Cistercian monastery, which he himself intended to enter as a lay brother . For this purpose, the Neuburg monastery in Alsace sent an abbot and twelve monks - as it is called after the number of apostles .

Abbot Dieter of the primary abbey of Morimond , who arrived on March 24, 1138, was entrusted with the re-establishment of this monastery . The location of the donated lands does not seem to have been conducive to the founding of the monastery. Among other things, there seems to have been a lack of water.

Around 1146, the responsible bishop of Speyer Günther von Henneberg personally took on the matter. He declared the place unsuitable and gave the monastery the bishop's fief at Mulenbrunnen in a secluded forest valley. It was probably moved there in the summer of 1147.

The Salzach and Blaubach brooks were used by the Cistercians within the monastery walls as a canal, which could take in sewage and waste from latrines, kitchen and farm buildings and which still flows through the monastery today. They could also use it to drive their mill.

Further development

The complex quickly developed into an economic, social and political center of the region.

From 1156 the monastery was under the umbrella bailiff of Emperor Friedrich I (HRR) ( Barbarossa ). In 1232 the imperial bailiwick was confirmed. However, the convention then chose the bishop of Speyer to protect the abbey. This seems to have given the bailiwick as sub bailiwick to his ministerial Heinrich von Enzberg , who is documented as guardian of the abbey from 1236. Over the following decades there were repeatedly violent disputes with the lords of Enzberg, who tried to use their bailiwick over the monastery to expand their own position. From 1325 onwards, the Count Palatine were entrusted with the umbrella bailiwick.

During the War of the Bavarian-Palatinate Succession, Duke Ulrich von Württemberg besieged the monastery in 1504 , which fell after a seven-day siege.

During the German Peasants' War in 1525, the monastery was looted by rebel farmers. The Böckinger farmer leader Jäcklein Rohrbach was in Maulbronn at the time and complained to Hans Wunderer about the disorder among the rebels, who could not agree on whether the monastery should be burned, demolished or sold. It is thanks to Rohrbach's interference that the buildings were ultimately preserved.

Expulsion of the convent in the course of the Reformation

Since the Duchy of Württemberg became Protestant, the monks of the monastery were not tolerated by the political authority in the country. The monastery was initially intended as a collective monastery for unruly monks from all male monasteries in Württemberg. The abbot and the convent moved to their Pairis priory in Alsace in 1537 , and the abbot died in Einsiedeln in 1547. After the defeat in the Schmalkaldic War , the duke had to give the monastery back to the convent in 1546/47.

The Augsburg Religious Peace , passed in 1555, gave the Duke the right to determine the confession of his subjects. In 1556 he issued the monastery regulations , which should lay the foundation for a regular school system in all remaining male monasteries in Württemberg. The conversion of the monastery into a school remained controversial from a legal point of view for a long time. There were two attempts by the emperor to reverse the development in Maulbronn. During the interim in the years 1548 to 1555 and from 1630 to 1649 due to the imperial edict of restitution , monks were able to move back into the monastery due to the temporary balance of power.

Economic and property history

In the beginning, the monastery grew in particular as a result of pious donations and endowments from the noble nobility and the ministries. In the 14th and 15th centuries there was a planned consolidation and consolidation of property through the purchase of goods. At the end of the development there was a closed monastery territory with over twenty villages, the so-called “monastery spots” (see next chapter).

In addition to managing the goods immediately around the monastery with the Elfinger Hof, there were also own businesses in Illingen , Knittlingen and Unteröwisheim . In addition, a total of around 2500 hectares of monastic forest, distributed over around 25 localities, were cultivated.

In addition, goods and privileges were leased, which together with the tithe income brought the monastery considerable income. The size of the monastery fruit box that has been preserved gives eloquent testimony to this. To manage the income from the monastery property, the convent set up several so-called monastery maintenance . The monastery had a total of seven nursing yards, namely in Illingen, Kirchheim am Neckar , Knittlingen, Ötisheim , Speyer , Unteröwisheim and Wiernsheim .

Monastery territory and monastery office Maulbronn

The rulership of Maulbronn Monastery, which emerged between the 12th and 15th centuries, came under the patronage of the Palatinate in the 14th century and in 1504 under Württemberg sovereignty. This and the following applies to the closed Maulbronnian core territory, not to the Unteröwisheim exclave , which is about 15 km northwest of the core territory, which plays a special role (see below). In the wake of the secularization of the monastery in 1535, its area was converted into the Württemberg monastery office of Maulbronn in 1557. It had a maximum north-south extension of about 25 km ( Knittlingen in the north and Flacht in the south) and a maximum west-east extension of about 15 km ( Ötisheim in the west and Gündelbach in the east).

The Enz divided the territory into a north and a south half. Maulbronn was in the center of the northern half, the geographical center of the southern half is roughly occupied by Wiernsheim . The only enclave was Mühlhausen an der Enz , which formed an independent Wuerttemberg Chamber of Commerce. The districts of Mönsheim (Württemberg Oberamt Leonberg) and Obermönsheim ( Baden-Durlach rural nobility ) formed almost enclaves . Maulbronn had not acquired full local authority over the districts of Freudenstein and Diefenbach - the Herrenalb monastery office, also in Wurttemberg , owned three eighths of each of these two places.

Neighboring territories were in particular: in the east and south the Württemberg offices of Güglingen , Vaihingen , Leonberg , Heimsheim and Hirsau , in the west the Baden office in Pforzheim and the Palatinate office in Bretten and in the north the staff office in Derdingen for the Württemberg monastery office in Herrenalb.

Due to its size as well as its special geopolitical and geographical location at the transition from the Neckar basin to the Kraichgau and on the important Reichsstraße from Ulm to Speyer , the Maulbronn monastery office placed a strategically extremely important bastion of Württemberg to the west and in the direction of the Upper Rhine states ( Palatinate , Baden , Principality of Speyer ). Already in the Palatinate period, when the Maulbronn monastery territory formed the southeastern spearhead of the Palatinate, Maulbronn and many monastery sites were fortified , from which Württemberg later benefited.

The following is a list of the 25 old marks of the Maulbronn Monastery Office. 24 of them form the closed core territory. Many of the sub-locations mentioned in brackets are Waldensian places , which were only added in 1699 , and their new markings - if they were formed - were often composed of several old markings - they are subsequently assigned to the municipality in which they were mainly located.

  • Knittlingen (with the southern part of Großvillars ), Maulbronnish since 12/13. Century
  • Freudenstein (with Hohenklingen), since 13./14. Century Maulbronnisch (5/8) and Herrenalbisch (3/8)
  • Diefenbach (with Füllmenbacher Hof and Burrainhof), since the 14th century Maulbronnian (5/8) and Herrenalbisch (3/8)
  • Ruit , since 14./15. Century Maulbronnisch, 1810 Baden
  • Ölbronn (with Kleinvillars ), Maulbronnish since 1270/85
  • Maulbronn (in 1147 the monastery of Eckenweiher, founded in 1138 - today part of Mühlacker - was moved to Maulbronn)
  • Zaisersweiher , Maulbronnish since the 14th century
  • Schützingen , since 14./15. Maulbronnish, resettled by Austrian Protestants after the Thirty Years' War
  • Gündelbach (with Steinbachhof), since 13./14. Century Maulbronnish
  • Schmie , Maulbronnish since the 14th century
  • Lienzingen , Maulbronnish since the 14th century (the Church of Our Lady comes from this time )
  • Illingen , since 14./15. Century Maulbronnish
  • Roßwag , Maulbronnish since 1394
  • Lomersheim , since 14./15. Century Maulbronnish
  • Dürrmenz (with Eckenweiher, today Mühlacker ), since 14./15. Century Maulbronnish
  • Ötisheim (with Erlenbach, Corres and Schönenberg ), Maulbronnish since the 12th century
  • Großglattbach , probably since 13./14. Century Maulbronnish
  • Öschelbronn , Maulbronn since the 14th century, Baden in 1810
  • Wiernsheim (with Pinache and Serres ), since 12./13. Century Maulbronnish
  • Iptingen , Maulbronnish since 1194
  • Wurmberg (with Neubärental), since 12./13. Century Maulbronnish
  • Wimsheim , Maulbronnish since 1232
  • Weissach , Maulbronnish since the 12th century
  • Flat , since 13./14. Century Maulbronnish
  • Unteröwisheim , since 13./15. Jh. Maulbronnisch, since the 16th century Wuerttemberg local rule, since 1747 Wuerttemberg state sovereignty

In terms of natural space, four scenic focal points can be identified:

  • The northern half is dominated by the relatively heavily forested hill country between Stromberg and Enz , which is marked by the Keuper , with western and northwestern peripheral areas already extending slightly into the fertile Kraichgau .
  • The southern half, however, is dominated by the open landscapes of the high Heckengäus .
  • In between, the Enz Valley , which is often deeply cut here, forms an independent landscape shaped by viticulture.
  • The Unteröwisheim exclave is located on the western edge of the Kraichgau , only about four kilometers from the start of the Upper Rhine Plain.

In 1806 the Wuerttemberg Monastery Office Maulbronn was converted into the Württemberg Oberamt Maulbronn . Öschelbronn and Ruit were ceded to Baden by Württemberg in 1810 . The Maulbronn Oberamt became part of the Vaihingen district in 1936 , and in 1972 most of the municipalities became part of the Enzkreis .

Monastery school

In January 1556 Abbot Heinrich, like the other prelates of the country, adopted the new monastery order. In addition to Maulbronn, twelve other male monasteries in the Württemberg domain were converted into Protestant monastery schools in order to train the offspring of Protestant pastors there. The school still exists in Maulbronn today; several well-known graduates have emerged from it, among them Johannes Kepler , Friedrich Hölderlin and Hermann Hesse . Maulbronn is one of the few seminars that have survived to this day. In 1807 the school was converted into a Protestant theological seminar . Today the seminar is a state high school with boarding school from the 9th grade up to the Abitur in grade 12. Around 100 pupils are there.

Branch monasteries

Chronological key data

Panorama of the courtyard
1138 Monastery at Eckenweiher built by Abbot Dieter and 12 monks from the Cistercian monastery in Neuburg in Alsace
1146 St. Bernard of Clairvaux in Speyer
1147 Bishop Günther von Speyer hands over his fiefdom “ Mulenbrunnen ” to Abbot Dieter, who moves the monastery to Maulbronn
1148 Pope Eugene III. gives the new monastery a letter of protection
1153 Count Ludwig von Württemberg donated the village of Elfingen to the monastery
1156 Emperor Barbarossa takes the monastery under the protection of the empire
1178 Archbishop Arnold von Trier consecrates the monastery church
1201 Construction of the monastery front (cellar and lay refectory)
Around 1210 construction of the vestibule (paradise)
Around 1215 construction of the south hall of the cloister
Around 1225 construction of the gentleman's refectory and the chapter room
Around 1300 construction of the west hall of the cloister
Around 1350 construction of the north hall of the cloister with well chapel, the east hall with chapter house and Johanneskapelle
1361 Johann I von Rottweil becomes abbot and walled the monastery
1424 Gothic reconstruction of the church
1430 Construction of the beneficiary house
1441 Count Palatinate as a guardian fortified the monastery with walls, towers and battlements
1479 Construction of the vestibule of the monastery
1493 construction of the parlatorium
1495 Completion of the oratorio
1501 Construction of the stone canopy in the nave of the lay church
1504 Duke Ulrich von Württemberg occupies the monastery
1512 Johannes VIII. Entenfuß von Unteröwisheim becomes abbot and develops brisk building activity
1516 Johann Georg Faust is said to have been appointed to make gold by Abbot Entenfuß
1517 Conversion of the manor house with the spiral staircase finished
1518 Abbot duckfoot deposed
1519 Knight Franz von Sickingen pillages the monastery
1521 Pfisterei built
In 1525 rebellious farmers plunder the monastery
1534 Duke Ulrich von Württemberg secularizes the monastery
1537 Abbot Johann IX. after fleeing to Speyer, relocates the abbey to the Pairis monastery in Alsace
1547 Due to the Augsburg interim Emperor Charles V , the monastery temporarily comes back into the possession of the Cistercians. Abbot Heinrich III. reintroduces the catholic religion and order and regains recognition of imperial immediacy.
1550 Construction of the servants' house
1556 Duke Christoph von Württemberg established a Protestant monastery school
1558 Valentin Vannius becomes the first Protestant abbot
1580 Expansion of the fruit box
1586–1589 Johannes Kepler von Weil der Stadt becomes a student in the monastery
1588 Construction of the ducal hunting lodge
Around 1600 construction of the lecture hall above the fountain chapel
1630 Return of the monastery to the Cistercians by force of arms - Christoph Schaller von Sennheim becomes abbot
1632 Following the victories of the Swedish King Gustav Adolf , the monks leave the monastery again
1633 new appointment of a Protestant abbot
1634 Restoration of the Protestant monastery school - Abbot Schaller returns with the Cistercians
1648 In the Peace of Westphalia , Maulbronn is awarded Protestantism
1649 Abbot Buchinger withdraws in protest
1651 Reinstatement of a Protestant abbot
1656 restoration of the Protestant monastery school
1692 monastery students are brought to safety from the murderer Ezéchiel de Mélac
1702 Reopening of the monastery school
1751 Demolition of the abbot house
1786–1788 Friedrich Hölderlin student at the Maulbronn monastery school
1806 King Friedrich I of Württemberg secularizes the monastery
1807 Merger of the Maulbronn monastery school with Bebenhausen
1818 Maulbronn becomes "Evangelical theological seminar"
1823 Relocation of the general superintendent from Maulbronn to Ludwigsburg
1892 Fire of the beneficiary house
1893–1899 Demolition of the professor's house in front of the monastery front and the so-called castle (Famulus apartment)
1928 Evangelical Theological Seminary Maulbronn becomes the property of the Evangelical Seminary Foundation
1941 Confiscation of the monastery and closure of the seminary school by the National Socialist government
1945 Reopening of the Evangelical Theological Seminary

Today's meaning of the monastery

Today the monastery complex is almost exclusively owned by the State of Baden-Württemberg and is looked after by the State Palaces and Gardens of Baden-Württemberg . The city of Maulbronn uses the former stables as town hall. With its inclusion in the UNESCO World Heritage List, the building complex attracts visitors from all over the world.

Monastery concerts are held regularly to emphasize the acoustics of the monastery buildings.

architecture

Monastery gate

In front of the main entrance there used to be the monastery moat, over which a wooden drawbridge originally led in place of the solid stone bridge. On the western front of the gate tower, the openings through which the chains used to pull the bridge ran can still be seen.

The porter lived in a cell next to the monastery entrance, who let strangers sit down in his cell and then reported them to the abbot. He was allowed to let friars in immediately, not women at all. Hospitality was a sacred duty to men: the poor and the sick should be received as if Christ himself were coming.

Frühmesserhaus (today monastery museum)

Monastery courtyard

The monastery courtyard is characterized by its closed appearance. Immediately behind the gate, in the place of the pharmacy, was the monastery hostel. Adjacent to the pharmacy is the Frühmesserhaus, the apartment of the religious who had to read mass in the chapel opposite. The purpose of this gate chapel was to enable women who had no access to the monastery to take part in the worship service.

An old linden tree stands in front of the Renaissance town hall. Behind the monastery cooperage rises the monastery store, the so-called fruit box, which was built on old foundations in 1580 in its current size. The half-timbered house in the middle of the square is the old monastery administration. Originally the monastery courtyard was either smaller or separated into an outer and an inner part by a wall. Today it is bordered to the east by the front of the monastery.

paradise

Dijon (Notre-Dame) and Maulbronn porch in comparison

The vestibule of the monastery church got its name "Paradise" from the custom of painting the vestibule of the church with the story of the Fall . The last painting dates from 1522, but has fallen off with the exception of small remains.

The paradise of Maulbronn Monastery marks - like many parts of the architecture there - the transition from Romanesque to Gothic and shows Burgundian influences. The combination of high, clear windows and wide vaults are clearly Gothic, whereas the windows are not yet decorated with pointed arches, but rather Romanesque round arches. Sometimes pointed and round arches are arranged together. This type of combination is unique in Germany. The builder is not known by name, so he is called the Paradise Builder after Maulbronn Paradise .

The master of Maulbronn paradise

A master trained in the early Gothic period in northern France, for example in the building works of Laon , in 1160/70 was commissioned to build the antechamber, the new cloister and the dining room for the lord monks. This master builder came to Maulbronn via Burgundy , the country of origin of the Cistercian movement. First he provided the dining room of the conversations with double supports in order to vault the room with cross ribs , as his predecessor had already planned according to the wall traces . Then he built the so-called "Paradise" (hence his name) in front of the west side of the church and the cloister south wing as well as the gentleman's refectory with the six-part ribbed vaulting characteristic of the late Romanesque-early Gothic transition style . He also began the west and east wings of the cloister, each with the first yoke from the south, thus defining the width and height of the otherwise highly Gothic cloister. He divided static functions into individual elements. Typical of his work are the addition of the tubular, differently high services and the "hole shape" of the windows (preforms of the tracery of the High Gothic). All ribs of the vault follow the semicircle.

The “Maulbronn Paradise Master” later worked in Magdeburg on the bishop's walk of the cathedral choir and in Halberstadt.

Also noteworthy are the portals that connect Paradise to the nave. The door leaves date from the 12th century and have been preserved in their original form. Even the former leather cover (see detailed picture) is still clearly visible.

Monastery front
Monastery church (interior view)

Monastery church

On the vaulted ceiling, Joseph Victor von Scheffel could still see the letters “ A. vkl W. h. “(= All full, none empty (or - more likely - jug empty), bring me wine!). This inspired him to write his Maulbronn Fugue :

In the winter refectory at Maulbronn in the monastery,
Something goes around the table, doesn't sound like paternoster.
The St. Martin's goose has done well, Eilfinger flashes in the jug,
Now the wet prayer begins, and everything sings the fugue:
All full, no one empty, cry! Complete pocula!
...
Romanesque choir screen

The church is a three-aisled basilica , which was built between 1147 and 1178, initially in Romanesque style. It is unusually long because the nave unites two churches, the lay and monks' church. A Romanesque rood screen separates the lay church, the so-called brother choir, from the monk's church, the so-called men's choir. A special feature is the crucifix: the crucifix and the body of the Savior are carved out of a single block of stone. It is precisely aligned so that on the longest days of the year after ten o'clock the rays of the sun light up Christ's crown of thorns.

Further rooms in the inner area

From around 1200, starting with the west wing, the enclosure around the cloister north of the church was built within ten to twenty years.

The lay refectory (built around 1201) is the most extensive vaulted room in the monastery after the church.

The door opposite the well chapel leads to the men's refectory (built around 1220–1225), the dining room for the monks.

In the chapter house (13th century) chapters from the rules of the order were read out to all monks and inculcated in daily meetings. To serve this purpose, the hall was provided with stone benches on all four sides.

The well chapel from the 14th century juts south into the Kreuzgärtchen. The washroom in the cloister is prescribed by the rules of the order. The bottom fountain bowl is as old as the Gothic chapel. The two upper bowls have only recently been placed here.

The calefactorium is an oven-like vault, the stones of which still bear traces of fire. It is the room from which the monks' warm room above was heated and, apart from the monastery kitchen, the only heatable room in the whole monastery.

The Parlatorium (around 1493), the conference room of the monastery, was the place where the monks were allowed to exchange the most necessary words among themselves and with the superiors of the order.

The one-hand watch is worth mentioning .

A Staufer stele was inaugurated in the park south-east outside the monastery walls in 2012 , which reminds, among other things, that Frederick I Barbarossa placed the monastery under his protection as an imperial guardian bailiff from 1156.

Organs

Grenzing organ in the monastery church

There are two organs in Maulbronn Monastery . Until 1972 there was an organ in the monastery church from 1849 by the organ builder Eberhard Friedrich Walcker. The cone chest instrument had 21 stops on two manuals and a pedal . The actions were mechanical. In 1972 this organ was replaced by a new instrument from the Walcker company (Ludwigsburg), which had 38 registers on three manuals and a pedal. The instrument soon proved to be so fragile that preliminary considerations for a new building were started in 2002. In 2010 the Walcker organ was dismantled.

Today's main organ of the monastery church was built in 2013 by the organ builder Gerhard Grenzing (Barcelona). The slider chests -instrument has 35 stops on three manuals and pedal.

I main work C – a 3
1. Principal 16 ′
2. Viola di gamba 8th'
3. Principal 8th'
4th Reed flute 8th'
5. Octave 4 ′
6th Pointed flute 4 ′
7th Super octave 2 ′
8th. Cornett III 2 23
9. Mixture maior IV-V 2 ′
10. Trumpet 8th'
II Positive C – a 3
11. Lovely Gedackt 8th'
12. Salicional 8th'
13. Reed flute 4 ′
14th Principal 4 ′
15th Fifth 2 23
16. Duplicate 2 ′
17th third 1 35
18th Mixture minor III 1 13
19th clarinet 8th'
Tremulant
III Swell C – a 3
20th Lovely Gedackt 16 ′
21st flute 8th'
22nd viola 8th'
23. Beat 8th'
24. Fugara 4 ′
25th Transverse flute 4 ′
26th Flageolet 2 ′
27. oboe 8th'
28. Trompette harmonique 8th'
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
29 Principal bass 16 ′
30th Sub bass 16 ′
31. Octavbass 8th'
32. violoncello 8th'
33. Choral bass 4 ′
34. trombone 16 ′
35. Trumpet 8th'
  • Coupling : II / I, III / I, III / II, III / III (sub-octave coupling); I / P, II / P, III / P (normal and super octave coupling)

In the heated winter dining room, which is also known as the “Winter Church”, there is an organ from the organ building company Claudius Winterhalter (Oberharmersbach) from the year 2000. The instrument has 20 stops on two manuals and a pedal.

I main work C – a 3
1. Principal 8th'
2. Wooden flute 8th'
3. octave 4 ′
4th Pointed flute 4 ′
5. Duplicate 2 ′
6th Fifth 1 13
7th Mixture III-V 1 13
II subsidiary work C – a 3
8th. Salicional 8th'
9. Covered 8th'
10. Fugara 4 ′
11. Reed flute 4 ′
12. Fifth 2 23
13. third 1 35
14th Principal 2 ′
15th Fifth 1 13
16. oboe 8th'
Tremulant
Pedals C – f 1
17th Sub bass 16 ′
18th Octavbass 8th'
19th Bass octave 4 ′
20th bassoon 16 ′
  • Coupling : II / I (also as sub-octave coupling); I / P, II / P (also as super octave coupling)

Special stamps and special coins

Germany 2013

In order to collect the monastery Maulbronn to UNESCO - cultural and natural heritage of humanity a special stamp which appeared on 22 January 1998. Federal Post Office , where the monastery church and the floor plan of the monastery are shown.

Since 2013, the monastery can be seen on the reverse of a 2 euro commemorative coin (federal states series). The motif was designed by the Pforzheim flat engraver Eugen Ruhl (abbreviation er ) and shows the vestibule of the Maulbronn monastery church (Paradise) from 1220 and the three-bowl wash fountain.

Legends

Depiction of the founding legend in the vault of the well house

A mule finds the place for the monastery to be founded

A coat of arms on the spring niche shows the founding legend, in which it says that the monks were undecided where to build the monastery. So they loaded a mule with the monastery treasures and let it go. The mule stopped at the site of today's well (= Bronn), threw away the monastery treasure and scratched its hoof. There a water fountain shot up immediately, which the monks took in the well and later in the well house. The monastery was given the location and the name Maulbronn.

Invention of the Maultasche by the Maulbronn monks

One of several theories about how the Swabian Maultasche was invented refers to the Maulbronn Monastery. A legend tells that shrewd friars of the Maulbronn Monastery - when they were given meat during Lent - did not want to let them go to waste as good Swabians. In order to circumvent the ban on eating meat on Fridays and during Lent, they chopped the meat very small and mixed it with herbs. So it looked like vegetable puree. It was also hidden in pockets made of pasta so that the Lord God from heaven could not see it. The "dear God" is said to have watched with a wink. Popularly this dish was called “Maul” after the monastery name and is also jokingly called “Herrgottsbscheißerle”.

literature

  • Marga Anstett-Janßen: Maulbronn Monastery. Deutscher Kunstverlag Munich / Berlin 2000, ISBN 3-422-03084-0 .
  • Friedl Brunckhorst: Maulbronn: Cistercian abbey - monastery school - cultural monument. Schimper-Verlag Schwetzingen 2002, ISBN 3-87742-171-7 .
  • Karl Klunzinger : Documented history of the former Cistercian Abbey Maulbronn. Stuttgart 1854.
  • Ulrich Knapp: The Maulbronn Monastery. History and building history. Theiss, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-8062-1289-9 .
  • Katinka Krug, Peter Knoch, Matthias Untermann: Gable architectures: New observations on the early building history of the Cistercian churches in Maulbronn and Bronnbach. In: INSITU. Zeitschrift für Architekturgeschichte , 3 (2/2011), pp. 161–172.
  • Peter Rückert, Dieter Planck (Ed.): Beginnings of the Cistercians in southwest Germany. Politics, art and liturgy in the vicinity of Maulbronn Monastery. Studies on the Upper Rhine, 16. Stuttgart 1999.
  • Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg (Ed.): Maulbronn: On the 850-year history of the Cistercian monastery. Self-published, Stuttgart 1997, ISBN 3-8062-1283-X .
  • Maulbronn Monastery 1178–1978. Exhibition catalog. Maulbronn 1978.
  • Carla Mueller, Karin Stober: Maulbronn Monastery. Ed .: State Palaces and Gardens of Baden-Württemberg in collaboration with the Staatsanzeiger-Verlag, Stuttgart. Publication series: Guide to State Palaces and Gardens of Baden-Württemberg. Deutscher Kunstverlag Munich / Berlin 2006, ISBN 978-3-422-02053-5 .
  • Eduard Paulus : The Cistercian Abbey Maulbronn. Published by the Württemberg Antiquities Association. 2nd edition Bonz, Stuttgart 1882 (digitized HAAB Weimar ); 3rd, expanded edition 1889.
  • State Office for the Preservation of Monuments Baden-Württemberg (Ed.): UNESCO World Heritage. Maulbronn Monastery in Baden-Wuerttemberg. Esslingen am Neckar 2013.
  • Antje Gillich: The water system of the Maulbronn monastery. A project for inventory acquisition with high-resolution laser scan data. In: Newsletter of the preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg , 4, 2017, pp. 275–281 ( online PDF; 0.8 MB ).
  • Manfred Rösch, Elske Fischer, Birgit Kury: The Maulbronn monastery ponds. Mirror of four millennia of cultural landscape history. In: Newsletter of the preservation of monuments in Baden-Württemberg , 4, 2017, pp. 282–287. ( Online PDF; 0.5 MB )

Individual evidence

  1. kloster-maulbronn.de: water management
  2. hemenpark-umwelt.baden-wuerttemberg.de: Maulbronn Monastery, canalised runoff of the Salzach
  3. Timeline for the history of Maulbronn Monastery. Retrieved May 30, 2019 .
  4. ^ Martin Ehlers: Local history at a glance , in: Maulbronn Heimatbuch. Maulbronn 2012, ISBN 978-3-933486-75-2 , p. 77
  5. ^ Website of the "Maulbronn Monastery Concerts" , accessed on December 20, 2015
  6. http://de.wikisource.org/wiki/Allgemeines_Deutsches_Kommersbuch:318
  7. Stauferstele Monastery Maulbronn on stauferstelen.net. Retrieved March 22, 2014.
  8. Comprehensive information on the organs of the monastery church
  9. Information on the Grenzing organ
  10. More information on the organ of the Winter Church
  11. Bundesbank ( Memento of the original from March 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Overview of 2 euro commemorative coins @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.bundesbank.de
  12. Susanne Roth: Maulbronn motif with a circulation of 30 million. Newspaper article from around 2013
  13. Jakobs-Maultaschen on kloster-maulbronn.de, accessed on July 4, 2019

Web links

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