Steingaden Abbey (German: ''Kloster Steingaden'') was a

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

monastery in

Steingaden Steingaden is a town and municipality in the Weilheim-Schongau district of Upper Bavaria, Germany. It is the site of the 12th-century Steingaden Abbey (''Kloster Steingaden'') and the Wies Church, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Geography The commu ...

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 ...

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

Dedicated to

John the Baptist John the Baptist or , , or , ;Wetterau, Bruce. ''World history''. New York: Henry Holt and Company. 1994. syc, ܝܘܿܚܲܢܵܢ ܡܲܥܡܕ݂ܵܢܵܐ, Yoḥanān Maʿmḏānā; he, יוחנן המטביל, Yohanān HaMatbil; la, Ioannes Bapti ...

, the abbey was founded in 1147 as a Premonstratensian house by

Welf VI Welf VI (111515 December 1191) was the margrave of Tuscany (1152–1162) and duke of Spoleto (1152–1162), the third son of Henry IX, Duke of Bavaria, and a member of the illustrious family of the Welf. Biography Welf inherited the familial po ...

, third son of Henry the Black, Duke of Bavaria, and brother of Duke

Henry the Proud Henry the Proud (german: Heinrich der Stolze) (20 October 1139), a member of the House of Welf, was Duke of Bavaria (as Henry X) from 1126 to 1138 and Duke of Saxony (as Henry II) as well as Margrave of Tuscany and Duke of Spoleto fro ...

. The first monks and their abbot came from the Premonstratensian

Rot an der Rot Abbey Rot an der Rot Abbey (also referred to as ''Roth'', ''Münchroth'', ''Münchenroth'', ''Mönchroth'' or ''Mönchsroth'') was a Premonstratensian monastery in Rot an der Rot in Upper Swabia, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was the first Premonstrat ...

. The Romanesque abbey church was dedicated in 1176. Between 1470 and 1491 the abbey buildings were refurbished under Abbot Caspar Suiter in the Late Gothic style. Welf VI and his son

Welf VII Welf VII (c. 1135 – 11 or 12 September 1167) was the only son of Welf VI, Duke of Spoleto and Margrave of Tuscany, and Uta, daughter of Godfrey of Calw, count palatine of the Rhine. He was a member of the House of Welf. His father inherited th ...

were both buried here. The abbey was looted and burnt in 1525 during the

German Peasants' War The German Peasants' War, Great Peasants' War or Great Peasants' Revolt (german: Deutscher Bauernkrieg) was a widespread popular revolt in some German-speaking areas in Central Europe from 1524 to 1525. It failed because of intense oppositio ...

, and was later almost completely destroyed in 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 ...

. Reconstruction was completed in 1663 under Abbot Augustin Bonenmayr in the style of the early

Baroque 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 ...

. During the 1740s the nave of the church was redecorated in the

Rococo Rococo (, also ), less commonly Roccoco or Late Baroque, is an exceptionally ornamental and theatrical style of architecture, art and decoration which combines asymmetry, scrolling curves, gilding, white and pastel colours, sculpted moulding, ...

style. The abbey's prestigious building projects, combined with its inaccessible location, brought it into financial difficulties which remained insuperable to the end of its existence.

Dissolution

Steingaden Abbey was dissolved in 1803 during the

secularisation In sociology, secularization (or secularisation) is the transformation of a society from close identification with religious values and institutions toward non-religious values and secular institutions. The ''secularization thesis'' expresses the ...

of Bavaria. The monastic buildings were bought at auction by the Meyer brothers from

Aarau Aarau (, ) is a List of towns in Switzerland, town, a Municipalities of Switzerland, municipality, and the capital of the northern Swiss Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Aargau. The List of towns in Switzerland, town is also the capital of the dis ...

, who demolished them in 1819, except for the wing containing the Romanesque cloisters.

Welfenmünster

The former abbey church, the ''Welfenmünster'', dedicated to Saint John the Baptist, is a Romanesque building of the 1170s under an extravagant Rococo refurbishment carried out by Johann Georg Bergmüller throughout the whole of the 1740s. It survived the dissolution as the parish church of Steingaden, which it remains. The abbey church was the place of burial of the founder, Welf VI, who died in 1191, and his son

, who predeceased his father in 1167. Their elaborate tomb was destroyed in 1525. The church retained however a carved sandstone panel of the Welf arms, dating from about 1200 which may well have formed part of the destroyed tomb. Apart from

seal Seal may refer to any of the following: Common uses * Pinniped, a diverse group of semi-aquatic marine mammals, many of which are commonly called seals, particularly: ** Earless seal, or "true seal" ** Fur seal * Seal (emblem), a device to impr ...

s and seal impressions this is the oldest known surviving heraldic representation in Germany. The panel was acquired by the

Bayerisches Nationalmuseum The Bavarian National Museum (german: Bayerisches Nationalmuseum, links=no) in Munich is one of the most important museums of decorative arts in Europe and one of the list of largest art museums in the world , largest art museums in Germany. S ...

in Munich in 1861.Bayerisches Nationalmuseum ref no: Inv. MA 121

Wies Church

The nearby pilgrimage church at Wies was closely connected to Steingaden Abbey. It was built under Abbot Marinus Mayer in 1745 when it became apparent that Wies had become an important centre of pilgrimage, and has continued ever since as one of the most popular pilgrimage churches in Bavaria.

Notes

External links

Klöster in Bayern
{{coord, 47.7013, N, 10.8625, E, source:dewiki_region:DE-BY_type:landmark, format=dms, display=title Premonstratensian monasteries in Germany Monasteries in Bavaria 1140s establishments in the Holy Roman Empire 1147 establishments in Europe Religious organizations established in the 1140s Christian monasteries established in the 12th century Burial sites of the House of Welf Weilheim-Schongau