St. George's Abbey, Stein am Rhein (Kloster Sankt Georgen, Stein am Rhein) was a Benedictine monastery in Stein am Rhein, Switzerland.
In or around 1007, Emperor Henry II moved St. George's Abbey from its former location on the Hohentwiel in Singen to Stein am Rhein — at that time, little more than a small fishing village on the Rhine. The move was a means to strengthen his presence at this strategic point, where major roads and river routes intersected. He gave the abbots extensive rights over Stein and its trade so that they could develop it commercially. [1] In this, they were very successful and Stein am Rhein rapidly became a flourishing and prosperous town which, in the 15th century, was itself (if briefly) granted reichsfrei status.
The abbey also prospered and, in the 15th century, completely rebuilt its premises, which remain a significant example of late Gothic architecture in the region.
The last and greatest abbot, David von Winkelsheim, who came to power in 1499, completed the building works and added a spectacular suite of Renaissance frescoes that are among the earliest known in Northern Europe.
Under the Reformation however, the abbey was secularised and its assets taken over by Zürich. Abbot von Winkelsheim negotiated a settlement with the Zürich authorities, whereby, although control of the abbey was handed over to them, he and the remaining monks would be allowed to remain on the premises until their deaths. Zürich, however, suspected the abbot of collusion with the Habsburgs and locked him up in his new rooms. He was able to escape to Radolfzell, but died shortly after, in 1526. [2]
The Gottfried Keller Foundation aims in the acquisition of major works from Switzerland and abroad, to entrust them as loans to Swiss museums or to return them to their original locations. Among other, the foundation acquired the St. Georgen Abbey. The collection comprises more than 8,500 paintings, sculptures and other art objects in around 110 museums respectively locations in Switzerland. [3] [4]
The buildings remained unharmed until the 19th century, when they were used by their owners for a number of industrial purposes, during which they suffered considerable damage. A Protestant pastor acquired them, and left them in trust for the community, thus saving them. Since 1945, they have accommodated a museum.
The banqueting hall, or Festsaal, containing the frescoes commissioned by David von Winkelsheim, and the cloisters are of especial interest in a building complex.
The abbey church, which dates predominantly from the 12th century, has also survived intact, and is now the (Protestant) parish church.
List of Catholic Abbots of St. George's Abbey [5] [6]
Stein am Rhein is a historic town and a municipality in the canton of Schaffhausen in Switzerland.
The counts of Toggenburg ruled the Toggenburg region of today's canton of St. Gallen, Switzerland, and adjacent areas during the 13th to 15th centuries.
Saint Emmeram's Abbey was a Benedictine monastery founded around 739 at Regensburg in Bavaria at the grave of the itinerant Frankish bishop Saint Emmeram. The original abbey church is now a parish church named St. Emmeram's Basilica. The other buildings on the site form a large complex known as Schloss Thurn und Taxis or Schloss St. Emmeram, which has served as the main residence of the Thurn und Taxis princely family since the early 19th century.
St Peter's Abbey in the Black Forest or St. Peter's Abbey, Schwarzwald is a former Benedictine monastery in the village of St. Peter im Schwarzwald, in the district of Breisgau-Hochschwarzwald, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Saint Blaise Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in the village of St. Blasien in the Black Forest in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
St. George's Abbey in the Black Forest was a Benedictine monastery in St. Georgen im Schwarzwald in the southern Black Forest in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Gengenbach Abbey was a Benedictine monastery in Gengenbach in the district of Ortenau, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was an Imperial Abbey from the late Carolingian period to 1803.
Kreuzlingen Abbey, in Kreuzlingen in Switzerland, on the border with Germany, was founded in about 1125 by Ulrich I of Dillingen, Bishop of Constance, as a house of Augustinian Canons. In 1848, the government of the Canton of Thurgau dissolved the monastery and took over its property. The former abbey church of Saint Ulrich and Saint Afra, decorated in the Baroque style, is noteworthy.
Sankt Katharinen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Kreuznach district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Rüdesheim, whose seat is in the municipality of Rüdesheim an der Nahe.
Eldena Abbey, originally Hilda Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery near the present town of Greifswald in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, Germany. Only ruins survive, which are well known as a frequent subject of Caspar David Friedrich's paintings, including the famous Abtei im Eichwald.
Cappenberg Castle is a former Premonstratensian monastery, Cappenberg Abbey in Cappenberg, a part of Selm, North Rhine-Westphalia in Germany. It stands on an elevation, the Cappenberg, near Lünen and Werne, and is a vantage point offering views over the eastern Ruhrgebiet.
Rüti Monastery was a former Premonstratensian monastery, founded in 1206 and suppressed in 1525 on occasion of the Reformation in Zürich, situated in the municipality of Rüti in the canton of Zürich, Switzerland. The monastery's church was the final resting place of the Counts of Toggenburg, among them Count Friedrich VII and 13 other members of the Toggenburg family, and other noble families. Between 1206 and 1525, the monastery comprised 14 incorporated churches and the owner of extensive lands and estates at 185 localities.
Fahr Convent is a Benedictine convent located in an exclave of the canton of Aargau, surrounded by the municipality of Unterengstringen. It is located 8 km to the north of Zürich's city centre. Located in different cantons, Einsiedeln Abbey and Fahr Convent form a double monastery, overseen by the male Abbot of Einsiedeln, no converse arrangement appears to be available for the Abbess of Fahr. Fahr and Einsiedeln may be one of the last of such arrangements to survive.
St. Urban's Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery in the municipality of Pfaffnau in the canton of Lucerne in Switzerland. It is a Swiss heritage site of national significance.
St. George's Abbey is a monastic complex in the village of Sankt Georgen am Längsee, Carinthia, Austria. It celebrated its 1,000th anniversary in 2003.
Gottfried Keller-Stiftung, commonly abbreviated to GKS, is an arts foundation focused on cultural heritage of Switzerland. It was named by its founder Lydia Welti-Escher (1858–1891) after the Swiss national poet Gottfried Keller (1819–1891).
Kloster Allerheiligen is a former Benedictine monastery in the Swiss municipality of Schaffhausen in the Canton of Schaffhausen. The church Münster Allerheiligen is the oldest building in Schaffhausen, and houses also the Museum zu Allerheiligen.
Reformierte Kirche Rüti is an Evangelical Reformed church in the Swiss municipality of Rüti in the Canton of Zürich. It was built between 1214 and 1219 AD as the Romanesque style church of the then Premonstratensian Kloster Rüti, an abbey that was founded in 1206 by the House of Regensberg and suppressed in 1525 as part of the Reformation in Zürich.
Ferdinand Vetter was a Swiss Germanist and medievalist.
Marienstatt Abbey is a Cistercian monastery and a pilgrimage site in Streithausen, Westerwaldkreis, Rhineland-Palatinate, in the Nister valley near Hachenburg.