Banz Abbey (german: Kloster Banz), now known as Banz Castle (german: Schloss Banz), is a former

Benedictine , image = Medalla San Benito.PNG , caption = Design on the obverse side of the Saint Benedict Medal , abbreviation = OSB , formation = , motto = (English: 'Pray and Work') , foun ...

monastery, since 1978 a part of the town of Bad Staffelstein north of

Bamberg Bamberg (, , ; East Franconian: ''Bambärch'') is a town in Upper Franconia, Germany, on the river Regnitz close to its confluence with the river Main. The town dates back to the 9th century, when its name was derived from the nearby ' castle. C ...

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total lan ...

, southern

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

History

The abbey was founded in about 1070 by Countess Alberada of

Schweinfurt Schweinfurt ( , ; ) is a city in the district of Lower Franconia in Bavaria, Germany. It is the administrative centre of the surrounding district (''Landkreis'') of Schweinfurt and a major industrial, cultural and educational hub. The urban agg ...

and her husband, Count Hermann of Habsburg-Kastl, and until the secularisation of 1803 was the oldest monastery on the upper

Main Main may refer to: Geography * Main River (disambiguation) **Most commonly the Main (river) in Germany * Main, Iran, a village in Fars Province *"Spanish Main", the Caribbean coasts of mainland Spanish territories in the 16th and 17th centuries ...

. In the late Middle Ages and until 1575 only members of the nobility were accepted as monks. After the

Thirty Years' War The Thirty Years' War was one of the longest and most destructive conflicts in European history The history of Europe is traditionally divided into four time periods: prehistoric Europe (prior to about 800 BC), classical antiquity (80 ...

the abbey had to be rebuilt. The abbots Eucharius Weiner and Kilian Düring commissioned Johann

Leonhard Dientzenhofer Leonhard Dientzenhofer (also: ''Johann Leonhard Dientzenhofer''; 20 February 1660 – 26 November 1707) was a German builder and architect from the well known Dientzenhofer family of architects. Life and Work Leonhard was born in St. Margarethen ...

and after his death in 1707, his brother

Johann Dientzenhofer Johann Dientzenhofer (25 May 1663 – 20 July 1726) was a builder and architect during the Baroque period in Germany. Johann was born in St. Margarethen near Rosenheim, Bavaria, a member of the famous Dientzenhofer family of German architects, who ...

. Construction began in 1698. The church, built in

Baroque style The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

, was consecrated in 1719. The interior is built, not with right angles, but with a series of ellipses. The main altar, the chancel and the statues of saints in the church and on the façade are by Balthasar Esterbauer; the ceiling frescoes are by Melchior Steidl. The choir stalls were made by the court

cabinet maker A cabinet is a case or cupboard with shelves and/or drawers for storing or displaying items. Some cabinets are stand alone while others are built in to a wall or are attached to it like a medicine cabinet. Cabinets are typically made of wood (s ...

and ebonist of Schönborn, Johann Georg Nesstfell. In the second half of the 18th century Banz Abbey was known throughout the

Holy Roman Empire The Holy Roman Empire was a Polity, political entity in Western Europe, Western, Central Europe, Central, and Southern Europe that developed during the Early Middle Ages and continued until its Dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire, dissolution i ...

as a place of Catholic enlightenment and for the scholarship of its monks. This did not save it from secularisation and dissolution in 1803.

After dissolution

In 1813

Duke Wilhelm in Bavaria Duke Wilhelm in Bavaria, full German name: ''Wilhelm, Herzog in Bayern'' (born 10 November 1752 in Gelnhausen, Palatinate-Birkenfeld-Gelnhausen; died 8 January 1837 in Landshut or Bamberg, Kingdom of Bavaria) was Count Palatine of Birkenfeld-Gel ...

acquired the former abbey premises, which were thereafter known as Schloss Banz ("Banz Castle"). In 1933 Duke Ludwig Wilhelm in Bavaria sold the buildings to the Community of the Holy Angels (''"Gemeinschaft von den heiligen Engeln"''), an order dedicated to the spiritual care of expatriate Germans. Since 1978 the former monastery has been in the possession of the

Hanns Seidel Foundation The Christian Social Union of Bavaria, CSU-associated Hanns Seidel Foundation (german: Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung) is a German party-associated and taxpayer-money funded political research Foundation (charity), foundation. It was founded in November 19 ...

, an organisation closely associated with the political party

CSU CSU may refer to: * Channel service unit, a Wide area network equivalent of a network interface card * Chari Aviation Services, Chad, by ICAO airline code * Christian Social Union (UK), an Anglican social gospel organisation * Christian Social Un ...

, and is used as a conference centre. It also accommodates a collection of fossils and other curiosities, such as

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

ian

mummies A mummy is a dead human or an animal whose soft tissues and organs have been preserved by either intentional or accidental exposure to chemicals, extreme cold, very low humidity, or lack of air, so that the recovered body does not decay furth ...

. The estate of the former monastery, including vast forests, is today owned by Duke Max Emanuel's eldest daughter

Sophie, Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein Sophie, Hereditary Princess of Liechtenstein, Countess of Rietberg (born Duchess Sophie in Bavaria; 28 October 1967) was born a member of the House of Wittelsbach, with the courtesy title of Duchess in Bavaria, and second in line for the Jacobit ...

Sources

*Dippold, G., 1991. ''Kloster Banz. Natur, Kultur, Architektur.'' Staffelstein: Obermain Buch- und Bildverlag. *Wüst, W., 2001. ''Kloster Banz als ein benediktinisches Modell. Zur Stiftsstaatlichkeit in Franken.'' in: "Zeitschrift für bayerische Kirchengeschichte" 70 (2001), pp. 44–72. * Stühlmeyer, B., Stühlmeyer, L., 2016. ''Johann Valentin Rathgeber. Leben und Werk.'' Verlag Sankt Michaelsbund, München 2016, .

External links

*
Official website

Klöster in Bayern: Kloster Banz
*

Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung, Kloster Banz
{{Coord, 50, 07, 58, N, 11, 00, 03, E, region:DE-BY_type:landmark_source:dewiki, display=title Monasteries in Bavaria Benedictine monasteries in Germany 1070s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire Christian monasteries established in the 11th century Baroque architecture in Bavaria Lichtenfels (district) 1803 disestablishments in the Holy Roman Empire

History

After dissolution

See also

Sources

External links