St. Andreas Monastery (Sarnen)

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Aerial view of the monastery, October 2012
Klosterpforte to Brünigstrasse

The St. Andreas Monastery is a Benedictine monastery in Sarnen in the canton of Obwalden in Switzerland .

The monastery was founded in Engelberg around 1120 . Together with Engelberg Monastery , it formed a double monastery . The historical sources do not show exactly whether the community was founded at the same time as the monastic convent. What is certain, however, is that the double monastery in Engelberg existed until 1615. On February 18, 1615, the women's convent was moved to Sarnen. The women's abbey is a member of the Swiss Benedictine Federation . The three sister communities from Sarnen, Wikon and Melchtal have been living together in the Benedictine center “Ora et Labora” since 2019 .

Art treasures

The monastery has a comprehensive collection of cultural goods and art treasures with around 400 manuscripts, books since the Middle Ages, votive offerings for the Sarner baby Jesus, paintings and sculptures from the Baroque to the 19th century, liturgical implements from the late Middle Ages to the 18th century and around 800 textiles one of the most important textile collections in Switzerland. The music collection of the monastery with the music library comprises around 2,300 manuscripts. The collections are among the cultural assets of national importance in the canton of Obwalden.

The flood disaster of 2005 caused considerable damage to the collections. Thanks to extensive restoration work financed by donations, a large part of the cultural assets could be saved.

The wooden figure of the Sarner Child Jesus , created around 1360, is venerated by believers and makes the monastery a much-visited place of pilgrimage.

Benedictine Center "Ora et Labora"

From autumn 2017 to February 2019, 15 million francs were invested in the monastery, new buildings and renovations were carried out. This created the prerequisites for a Benedictine center.

In March 2019, the last eight sisters of the Marienburg monastery in Wikon and the eleven Benedictine sisters of the Melchtal monastery were able to move into the six nuns in Sarnen. Since then, the total of 25 women religious from the three sister communities of Sarnen, Wikon and Melchtal have lived together in the Benedictine center “Ora et Labora”. The Foundation Ora et Labora is responsible for the Benedictine Center . The monasteries in Wikon and Melchtal were sold at the end of 2019.

Trivia

Sister Rut-Maria Buschor from the St. Andreas Benedictine Monastery in Sarnen reported weekly in an NZZ column from 2007 to 2011 on life in the monastery, on church customs and on God and the world. In 2009 she wrote the book Even Nuns Have Parking Problems .

literature

  • Rolf De Kegel (Ed.): Movement in the constancy. On the history and work of the Benedictine nuns of St. Andreas / Sarnen Obwalden. Wallimann, Alpnach 2000, ISBN 978-3-908713-09-8 .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ A – Objects OW 2018 . Swiss inventory of cultural assets of national importance. In: babs.admin.ch / kulturgueterschutz.ch. Federal Office for Civil Protection FOCP - Department of Cultural Property Protection, January 1, 2018, accessed on December 26, 2017 (PDF; 37 kB, 3 pages, updated annually, no changes for 2018).
  2. ^ Art treasures on the website of the St. Andreas monastery
  3. ↑ Sarner Jesuskind on the website of the St. Andreas monastery
  4. ↑ The sisters' move into Sarnen is delayed until 2019. In: Obwaldner Zeitung, December 14, 2018
  5. ↑ Sarnen: The moving closer together becomes more concrete. In: Obwaldner Zeitung, April 20, 2017
  6. ^ In the future, three communities of sisters will live in the monastery of Sarnen. In: Obwaldner Zeitung, November 8, 2017
  7. ↑ Everything is ready in Sarnen for the Benedictine nuns from the Melchtal and Wikon to move in. In: Obwaldner Zeitung, February 21, 2019
  8. ^ Farewell tears and tears of joy for the Melchtal sisters. In: Obwaldner Zeitung, March 9, 2019
  9. ↑ Lucerne building contractor buys empty women's convents. In: Luzerner Zeitung , January 8, 2020
  10. ↑ From the Kloster Blog on NZZ.Online, archive version from August 15, 2010
  11. ^ Sister Rut-Maria: Even nuns have parking problems , Verlag Herder, 2009, ISBN 978-3-451-32232-7

Coordinates: 46 ° 53 '37.7 "  N , 8 ° 14' 43.7"  E ; CH1903:  six hundred sixty-one thousand four hundred and eighty-five  /  193,949