Schöntal Monastery

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Schöntal Monastery
The main building of the monastery
The main building of the monastery
location GermanyGermany Germany
Baden-Wuerttemberg
Lies in the diocese once Würzburg ; today Rottenburg-Stuttgart
Coordinates: 49 ° 19 '41.2 "  N , 9 ° 30' 16.9"  E Coordinates: 49 ° 19 '41.2 "  N , 9 ° 30' 16.9"  E
Serial number
according to Janauschek 		358
founding year 1153
Year of dissolution /
annulment 		1802
Mother monastery Maulbronn Monastery
Primary Abbey Morimond Monastery
Aerial view of the entire monastery complex

The Schöntal Monastery (Latin Abbatia Speciosae Vallis ) on the Jagst is a former Cistercian abbey with an ornate baroque church . The monastery complex forms with the surrounding houses the district Schöntal Monastery of the community Schöntal in Baden-Wuerttemberg .

history

Schöntal Monastery (1856, drawing by Max Eyth )
the baroque monastery church from the outside

The monastery was founded in 1153 as a branch of the Maulbronn monastery by Wolfram von Bebenburg in Neusaß . Between 1157 and 1163, the first abbot Herwig moved to the “beautiful valley” of the Jagst, a few hundred meters away, as the original site in Neusaß had proven to be unfavorable. The first mention under the name "speciosa vallis" dates back to 1163 and the German translation "Sconendahl" was first recorded in writing for 1228. The land in Schöntal was made available by the Lords of Berlichingen , who in return received the right to be buried in the cloister of the monastery. Götz von Berlichingen is also buried in the east wing of the cloister . The monastery was under the protection of the Bishop of Würzburg .

At first the Cisterze developed well, so it was already well-off in Heilbronn since 1177 . However, the monastery had financial difficulties as early as the beginning of the 13th century. The mother abbey Maulbronn, which found itself in difficulties, therefore handed over Schöntal to the monastery Kaisheim in 1282 , whose abbot Trutwin paid off all debts of Schöntal in 1283. As a result, the Schöntal Monastery went up again.

At the Council of Constance which received Abbey Schöntal in 1418 the imperial immediacy awarded which they held until the 1495th It was now solely responsible to the emperor in all worldly affairs. During the Peasants' War in 1525, Schöntal was robbed several times and suffered severe damage. In the course of the Reformation it was possible to defend against the repeal, but the monastery buildings had become uninhabitable. In the years 1617/1618, the old abbey was built under Abbot Theobald Fuchs , in which the monks and the abbot tract were housed. The monastery was besieged during the Thirty Years' War , and finally the monks had to flee in 1631, leaving the monastery to be plundered several times. In 1648 soldiers were quartered in the abbey buildings several times.

Under Abbot Benedikt Knittel (abbot from 1683 to 1732) the monastery soon flourished again. Under him the baroque abbey church planned by Leonhard Dientzenhofer was built, as well as the palatial convent building with the rococo staircase. About 40 monks lived in the monastery, plus about 30 conversationalists (lay people) who lived outside the monastery according to monastic models.

The Cistercian abbey was secularized in 1802 when it was occupied by the Kingdom of Württemberg. The monastery equipment was moved to Stuttgart and the building was initially used as an upper office. From 1810 to 1975 Schöntal Monastery housed the Evangelical Theological Seminary , a Protestant monastery school . Today the buildings are used by the Catholic diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart as a conference center, as a forest school home for schools and as the town hall of the Schöntal community. The abbey and monastery church can be visited on guided tours. A permanent exhibition in the information center provides information on the history of the monastery. Schöntal Abbey is one of the state's own monuments and is looked after by the State Palaces and Gardens of Baden-Württemberg .

Abbots of the monastery

  • 1157–1172 Herwicus (Herwig)
  • 1172–1186 Heinrich I.
  • 1186-1200 Sibodo
  • 1200-1216 Albert I.
  • 1216-1219 Richalm
  • 1219–1222 Gottfried
  • 1222–1226 John I.
  • 1226-1230 Siegfried
  • 1230-1236 Arnold
  • 1236-1238 Rupert
  • 1238-1240 Albert II.
  • 1240–1248 Heinrich II.
  • 1248-1269 Hildebrand
  • 1270-1284 Thomas
  • 1284–1294 Heinrich III.
  • 1295–1304 Walchimus von Crailsheim
  • 1304–1305 Friedrich von Schöntal
  • 1305–1317 Walther von Öhringen
  • 1317–1319 Konrad von Weiler
  • 1320-1321 Albert III.
  • 1321-1365 Reinold
  • 1365-1371 Conrad II.
  • 1371-1373 Werner
  • 1374-1377 Marquard
  • 1377-1390 Raban
  • 1390–1400 Burckard von Sindringen
  • 1400–1407 Heinrich IV. Hirsch
  • 1407–1425 Heinrich V. Rosenkaym
  • 1425–1445 Henry VI. Höfflin
  • 1445–1465 Simon Marbach
  • 1465–1468 John II. Huebner
  • 1468–1486 Bernhard
  • 1486-1492 John III. Hoffmann
  • 1492-1511 Georg Hertlin
  • 1511–1535 Erhard (Eberhard) Oeser
  • 1535–1537 Elias Wurst
  • 1537–1557 Sebastian I. Stattmüller
  • 1557–1583 Sebastian II. Schantzenbach
  • 1584–1607 John IV. Lurtz
  • 1607–1611 Theobald I. Koch
  • 1611–1626 Theobald II. Fuchs
  • 1626–1633 Sigismund Fichtel (Fichtling)
  • 1634–1635 Christoph Haan (first term of office)
  • 1635–1636 Johannes Leonhard Meinhart
  • 1636–1675 Christoph Haan (second term of office)
  • 1675–1683 Franziskus Kraff (t)
  • 1683–1732 Benedikt Knittel
  • 1732–1761 Angelus Münch
  • 1761–1784 Augustin Brunnquell
  • 1784–1802 Maurus Schreiner

Attractions

Monastery complex

In addition to the baroque church with its rich furnishings and the equally magnificent convent building, the complex includes numerous farm buildings, gatehouses, the “Mohrenbrunnen”, a large cloister garden and a cemetery with a baroque cemetery chapel and sacristan's house on the Kreuzberg next to the monastery. In summer, concerts are held in the monastery church as part of the Hohenlohe cultural summer . The Neusaß pilgrimage chapel, a few hundred meters away, also belongs to the monastery .

  • Ceiling painting in the stairwell of the convent

  • Baroque statue in the stairwell of the convent

  • "Mohrenbrunnen"

  • Stair tower

  • Gates in the Schöntal Monastery

  • Baroque cemetery chapel

  • Mesnerhaus on the Kreuzberg

  • The monastery seen from the abbey garden to the north

Monastery church

Abbot Benedikt Knittel commissioned the builder Leonhard Dientzenhofer to plan a new monastery church. On April 2, 1707, the contract for the nave was concluded as the first construction phase. However, Dientzenhofer died in November 1707 before construction began. A brother-in-law and Palier of Dientzenhofer, the bricklayer and master craftsman Jacob Ströhlein from Gmünd, was able to start the new building in the spring of 1708 according to Dientzenhofer's plans. These envisaged a three-aisled hall church with a double tower facade, two extraordinary architectural features that reveal genetic traces of the design process. On the one hand, Cistercians were actually forbidden by the order rule to provide their monastery churches with a tower built from the ground. Wooden ridge turrets were required . This rule was broken from time to time in the pompous Baroque, but rarely. Building two towers at the same time was even rarer. One such case is the Cistercian Abbey Church in Waldsassen , which Leonhard Dientzenhofer's older brother, Georg Dientzenhofer , had built a few years earlier and Leonhard had also worked on the construction site. This is one line of tradition for the new building in Schöntal. On the other hand, the shape of the hall, which was very rare for the Baroque period and cannot be derived from the Bavarian-Bohemian architectural tradition of the Dientzenhofer, is surprising. Apparently, this was inspired by another solitary building in the region: the Knight's Church of St. Nikolaus and St. Maria on the Comburg near Schwäbisch Hall, which had been in planning since 1706 and then built from 1707 , a work by the Vorarlberg master builder Joseph Greissing . In fact, both Schöntal Abbey and Comburg Abbey were under the spiritual umbrella of the Würzburg diocese , where Greissing was the court architect. How this idea transfer took place in the early planning phase is still in the dark, but after further difficulties in the construction process, Joseph Greissing was called personally to Schöntal in 1710. He intervened in the facade planning and completed the upper tower floors, including their domes and lanterns, in his style. Greissing's company, he was at the same time a major construction contractor in Würzburg, manufactured the enormous roof structure over the nave, the bell chairs and built-in stairs in addition to the tower domes until 1712. The vaulting took place afterwards, Jacob Ströhlein had also died in 1711, by another brother-in-law of Dientzenhofer, the master mason Bernhard Schießer from Windigsteig in Lower Austria. Like Leonhard Dientzenhofer at the time, Schießer had also worked on the construction site in Waldsassen, where he had been a master builder since 1691. Contrary to Leonhard Dientzenhofer's plans, however, Schießer arched the Schöntal nave in 1711 with hanging domes , just as Greissing had done shortly before on the Comburg over the crossing. This also speaks in favor of Joseph Greissing's direct influence on the Schöntal plans, at the latest since his archival documented presence on the construction site from 1710. For the crossing in Schöntal, however, Schießer built - apparently according to his own designs, because Greissing had died in 1721 - a high, probably quite massive drum dome , which, however, was in danger of collapsing shortly after its completion in 1724 and had to be removed. In the same year, Bernhard Schießer was forced to say goodbye. Two Tyrolean mason trellises, Mathes and Johannes Zobel, repaired the structural damage, which had mainly occurred on the crossing piers. Instead, they erected a weight-saving dome that tapers towards the top in a light wooden construction by the monastery carpenters Caspar Bayerschmidt and Joseph Frantz.

The connection to the Comburg collegiate church is also shown in the fact that the same plasterer, Johann Bauer from Heidingsfeld near Würzburg, was hired for Schöntal , who preferred a festive, dignified design language based on Würzburg cathedral stucco. Only the ceiling frescoes in the choir, in the transept and in the dome, which the Italian Luca Antonio Colomba , at that time a Württemberg court painter, created with his assistant Giovanni Battista Ferrandini from 1724, meet the high demands of architecture and stucco. On the other hand, the other pictures, executed by the local painters Konrad Hoffmann from Adelsheim and Christian Thalwitzer from Weikersheim , lose themselves partly in a small-small one, for which Abbot Knittel himself is probably responsible, who obviously has an irrepressible urge to add as many aphorisms as possible also felt symbols in himself. The interior of the three-aisled hall church was largely completed by 1727 and Abbot Knittel was able to benedicate "his" church, that is, to bless it and thus use it for worship. The official solemn consecration by the Würzburg auxiliary bishop Johann Bernhard did not take place until 1736. The quality of the architecture, on the other hand, is equal to the altars that were added in the Rococo : Above all, the extraordinarily elegant high altar by Johann Michael Fischer from Dillingen from 1773 with an equally high-quality altarpiece Mariae Himmelfahrt by Flemish Oswald Onghers from 1680 (based on a model by Rubens ), taken from the previous building. Several very valuable Renaissance altars by Michael II. Kern from Forchtenberg as well as figures by Achilles Kern also come from the old church . In addition, there are pieces of equipment from many other artists, not least the finely carved organ case from 1723, which was only transferred from the Ludwigsburg Palace Chapel to a choir gallery around 1810.

Overall, the former Schöntal Abbey Church is an architecturally dignified building that shows some breaks in the planning history, but which also make it particularly interesting. Above all, the abundance of light and spaciousness of the well-proportioned interior are convincing, while the many medallions, which can certainly be traced back to Abbot Knittel himself, spread a certain unrest and are rather detrimental to the overall effect. It was not for nothing that a successor to Knittel had the many "little pictures" whitewashed in the 18th century, and exposing them again during the interior restoration in 1956/57 was perhaps not the best idea. The same unrest also favors the choir grille, which is provided with many gold, silver and color accents, the interim version of which in black certainly had a calming effect. The extraordinarily elegant high altar and the side altars at the choir entrance including the luminous choir frescoes are real highlights that increase the spatial impression. Although some of them were added much later, they fit into the festive hall in balanced shapes and noble colors a glamorous final chord.

  • Interior view with a view of the altar

  • Interior view with a view of the entrance

  • Ceiling painting of the monastery church

  • The baroque high altar

  • Side altar of the monastery church

organ

The choir organ was built in 1990/1991 by the organ construction company Rensch (Lauffen / N.), Whereby existing pipe material was reused. The front of the case and the prospect pipe come from an instrument from 1723 that was in the Ludwigsburg Castle Church until 1810. The abrasive loading -instrument has 23 registers on two manuals and Pedal and after Kirnberger II tempered (modified). The bellows system has two wedge bellows and a manual scooping system. The actions are mechanical.

View of the choir organ
I Hauptwerk C – g 3
1. Principal 8th'
2. Viol 8th'
3. Large covered 8th'
4th Octave 4 ′
5. Fugara 4 ′
6th Small set 4 ′
7th Fifth 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
8th. Octave 2 ′
9. Mixture IV 1 1 ⁄ 3  ′
II breastwork C – g 3
10. Flauto 8th'
11. Salicional 8th'
12. Reed flute 8th'
13. Quintadena 8th'
14th Prestant 4 ′
15th Flauto trav. 4 ′
16. Hörnle II 2 2 ⁄ 3  ′
17th Forest flute 2 ′
18th Whistle 1'
19th Cymbal III 2 ⁄ 3 ′
Tremulant
Pedal C – f 1
20th Sub bass 16 ′
21st Octavbass 8th'
22nd Choral bass 4 ′
23. bassoon 8th'

literature

  • Württemberg monastery book. Thorbecke, Ostfildern 2003, ISBN 3-7995-0220-3 , p. 433 ff.
  • Johannes Brümmer: Art and claim to power. Abbot Benedikt Knittel (1650–1732) and his work in the Cistercian monastery Schöntal (= research from Württembergisch Franconia. Volume 40). Thorbecke, Sigmaringen 1994, ISBN 3-7995-7643-6 .
  • The art monuments in Württemberg. The art monuments of the former Oberamt Künzelsau. Edited by Georg Himmelträger. Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart 1962 (Reprint: Frankfurt am Main 1983), ISBN 3-8035-1191-7 , pp. 271–385.
  • Heribert Hummel: Schöntal Monastery. Schöntal Abbey Education Center, Schöntal 1991.
  • Gregor P. Müller: The Schönthal Convent from its foundation in 1157 to its abolition in 1803. In: Cistercienser Chronik. No. 35–40, 4th vol. 1892, pp. 1–18, 33–45, 65–74, 97–110, 129–134, 161–170, 200–207, 231–235.
  • Johannes Mack: The builder and architect Joseph Greissing. Main Franconian Baroque before Balthasar Neumann. (Publications of the Society for Franconian History, Series VIII: Sources and Representations on Franconian Art History, Vol. 16). Würzburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-86652-816-1 , pp. 313-325.
  • Maria Magdalena Rückert : From the pious aristocratic foundation to the imperial abbey: Schöntal Monastery in the first 250 years of its existence. In: Dieter R. Bauer (Ed.): Under observation of the holy rule. Cistercian spirituality and culture in Baden-Württemberg Franconia (= research from Württemberg Franconia. Volume 48). Thorbecke, Stuttgart 2002, ISBN 3-7995-7649-5 , pp. 25-38.
  • Maria Magdalena Rückert: Manorial rule and monastery economy in the medieval Cistercian monastery Schöntal. In: Georg Mölich, Norbert Nussbaum, Harald Wolter-von dem Knesebeck (Hrsg.): The Cistercians in the Middle Ages. New perspectives on the formation, expansion and manifestations of an order. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-412-50718-3 , pp. 283-302.
  • Ottmar Schönhuth : Chronicle of the Schönthal monastery from documented sources. Mergentheim 1850 ( limited preview in Google book search).
  • Joachim Werz: A denominational Cistercian library. The book holdings of the Cistercian Abbey Schöntal in the Royal Reference Library of the Tübingen Wilhelmstift as sources of denominational knowledge. In: State castles and gardens of Baden-Württemberg, Joachim Werz (Hrsg.): The Cistercians. Concepts of monastic life. Schnell & Steiner, Regensburg 2017, ISBN 978-3-7954-3194-5 , pp. 63–84.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Georg Himmel HEIFER: The art monuments of the former Oberamt Künzelsau . In: Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg (ed.): The art monuments in Württemberg . Frankfurt am Main 1983, ISBN 3-8035-1191-7 , p. 271 .
  2. ↑ Bartholomaeus Kremer: Life descriptions of the Aebte von Schönthal . In: Franz Joseph Mone (Hrsg.): Sources collection of the Baden regional history . tape IV . Karlsruhe 1868, p. 142-170 .
  3. ↑ Georg Himmel HEIFER: The art monuments of the former Oberamt Künzelsau . In: Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg (ed.): The art monuments in Württemberg . Frankfurt am Main 1983, ISBN 3-8035-1191-7 , p. 273 .
  4. ^ Matthias Erzberger: The secularization in Württemberg from 1802 to 1810. Its course and its aftermath . Stuttgart 1902, p. 225-238 .
  5. ↑ Friedrich Traub: From the history of the Schöntaler seminar . Stuttgart 1910.
  6. ↑ Bildungshaus Kloster Schöntal and State Building Authority Heilbronn (ed.): Bildungshaus Kloster Schöntal. Opening and inauguration 1979 . Heilbronn 1979.
  7. ↑ www.schloesser-magazin.de ( Memento from October 20, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ Julia Bruch: Even nuns have to be able to count . In: Georg Mölich, Norbert Nussbaum, Harald Wolter-von dem Kneseback (eds.): The Cistercians in the Middle Ages . 1st edition. Böhlau Verlag, Cologne / Weimar / Vienna 2017, ISBN 978-3-412-50718-3 , p. 310 .
  9. ↑ Georg Himmel HEIFER: The art monuments of the former Oberamt Künzelsau . In: Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg (ed.): The art monuments in Württemberg . Frankfurt am Main 1983, ISBN 3-8035-1191-7 , p. 279-280 .
  10. ^ Matthias Untermann: Built unanimitas. To the building regulations of the Cistercians . In: Ulrich Knefelkamp (Ed.): Cistercians. Norm, culture, reform . Berlin / Heidelberg / New York 2001, p. 239-266, here 243-245 .
  11. ↑ Achim Hubel: Waldsassen Abbey Basilica . Ed .: Waldsassen Catholic Parish Office. Passau 1995, ISBN 3-927296-62-7 .
  12. ↑ Johannes Mack: Clear space and appreciation building. The baroque collegiate church of St. Nikolaus and St. Maria by the Vorarlberg master builder Joseph Greissing. In: State Palaces and Gardens of Baden-Württemberg and Klaus Gereon Beuckers. With the collaboration of Sören Groß (Ed.): Großcomburg Monastery. New research . Regensburg 2019, ISBN 978-3-7954-3442-7 , pp. 341-367 .
  13. ↑ Johannes Mack: The builder and architect Joseph Greissing. Main Franconian Baroque before Balthasar Neumann (dissertation Saarbrücken 2007) . Würzburg 2008, ISBN 978-3-86652-816-1 , p. 313-325 .
  14. ↑ Georg Himmel HEIFER: The art monuments of the former Oberamt Künzelsau . In: Landesdenkmalamt Baden-Württemberg (ed.): The art monuments in Württemberg . Frankfurt am Main 1983, ISBN 3-8035-1191-7 , p. 280 .
  15. ↑ Johannes Zahlten: The baroque furnishings of the "Newen church building in the noble knight monastery Comburg" . In: Elisabeth Schraut (Ed.): The Comburg: From the Middle Ages to the 20th century. (Catalogs of the Hällisch-Franconian Museum Schwäbisch Hall, Volume 3) . Sigmaringen 1989, ISBN 3-7995-3303-6 , p. 36–56, here pp. 38–39 .
  16. ^ Friedrich Albrecht: Abbot Benedikt Knittel and the Schöntal Monastery as a literary monument. Edited by Friedrich Albrecht . In: Deutsche Schillergesellschaft (Ed.): Marbacher Magazin . No. 50 . Marbach am Neckar 1989.
  17. ↑ Georg Himmel HEIFER (editor): The art monuments in Württemberg. The art monuments of the former Oberamt Künzelsau . Frankfurt am Main 1983, ISBN 3-8035-1191-7 , p. 311-324 .
  18. ↑ Heribert Hummel and Günter Besserer: Schöntal Monastery . Ed .: Bildungshaus Kloster Schöntal. Lauda-Königshofen 1991, p. 95-96 .
  19. ↑ Information on the organ
  20. ↑ Information on disposition

Web links

Commons : Schöntal Monastery  - Collection of images, videos and audio files