Thorberg Castle (german: Schloss Thorberg) is a former

Carthusian The Carthusians, also known as the Order of Carthusians ( la, Ordo Cartusiensis), are a Latin enclosed religious order of the Catholic Church. The order was founded by Bruno of Cologne in 1084 and includes both monks and nuns. The order has its ...

monastery, or charterhouse, now a prison, located in

Krauchthal Krauchthal is a municipality in the administrative district of Emmental in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Krauchthal was first mentioned around 1108-22 as ''Crouchtal'' and around 1181-82 as ''Crochtal''. Hettiswil village was fir ...

in the

Canton of Bern The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

History

Of the castle of the von Thorberg family, first documented in 1175, there remain only fragments of the foundations of the tower. The family died out in 1397 with Peter von Thorberg, the last knight: he bequeathed his many estates to the Carthusians, who converted the castle into a Carthusian monastery (or charterhouse). At the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and in ...

in 1528 all the assets and property of the monastery passed to the state of Bern. The income from the

Vogt During the Middle Ages, an (sometimes given as modern English: advocate; German: ; French: ) was an office-holder who was legally delegated to perform some of the secular responsibilities of a major feudal lord, or for an institution such as ...

ei Thorberg was administered by a ''Vogt'' from the Bern patriciate. Until 1798 various care organisations, a prison and a hospital were accommodated in the monastery buildings. In 1805 the former

almshouse An almshouse (also known as a bede-house, poorhouse, or hospital) was charitable housing provided to people in a particular community, especially during the medieval era. They were often targeted at the poor of a locality, at those from certain ...

, which had provided shelter for the aged poor, was put to use as a reformatory, model school and ancillary (or overflow) lunatic asylum. To these were added in 1807 a further institution for the accommodation of those who "had not really merited imprisonment". The care organisations were replaced on 1 November 1849 by a workhouse or forced labour unit. The opening of the psychiatric clinic at Waldau near Bern made it possible to close the ancillary asylum in 1855.In 1838 the sculptor

Joseph Maria Christen Joseph Anton Maria Christen (22 February 1767 – 30 March 1838) was a Swiss sculptor. Life Christen was born in Buochs, canton of Nidwalden, Switzerland. In 1785 he became a pupil of the portrait painter Johann Melchior Wyrsch in Lucerne, ...

died as one of its inmates. In 1893 a newly built cell block was opened as a prison; various other extensions were added during the 20th century, most recently in 1998.

Remains of the monastery buildings

From the Carthusian monastery there remain the women's guesthouse and the chapel, dating from 1510 to 1515, the frescoes of which show the

Adoration of the Magi The Adoration of the Magi or Adoration of the Kings is the name traditionally given to the subject in the Nativity of Jesus in art in which the three Magi, represented as kings, especially in the West, having found Jesus by following a star, ...

and the Adoration of the Shepherds. A figure of the "

Man of Sorrows Man of Sorrows, a biblical term, is paramount among the prefigurations of the Messiah identified by the Bible in the passages of Isaiah 53 (''Servant songs'') in the Hebrew Bible. It is also an iconic devotional image that shows Christ, usually ...

" by the sculptor

Erhart Küng Erhart is a surname and a given name. Notable people so named include: * Gregor Erhart (c. 1470?–1540), German sculptor * Maria Erhart (1944–2011), Austrian international bridge player * Michel Erhart (c. 1440-45 — after 1522), German late Go ...

, master of works at the

Berner Münster Bern Minster (german: Berner Münster) is a Swiss Reformed Church, Swiss Reformed cathedral (or Minster (cathedral), minster) in the Old City of Bern, old city of Bern, Switzerland. Built in the Gothic architecture, Gothic style, its constructio ...

, formerly belonging to the charterhouse, is today kept in the Historisches Museum Bern.

Other

The construction of the

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 ...

castle is from the time of the ''

Landvogt A ''Vogt'' (plural ''Vögte'') was a title and office in the Old Swiss Confederacy, inherited from the feudal system of the Holy Roman Empire, corresponding to the English '' reeve''. The German term ''Vogtei'' is ultimately a loan from Latin '' ...

''. The old

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

quarry nearby can still be seen, particularly the traces of hand-working and handtools.

Notes

Sources and external links

swisscastles.ch: Schloss Thorberg

Website of Canton Bern: Institutions at Thorberg
{{DEFAULTSORT:Thorberg Castles in the Canton of Bern Carthusian monasteries in Switzerland 1397 establishments in Europe Prisons in Switzerland Buildings and structures in Bern 14th-century establishments in Switzerland