Germany‘s most beautiful monasteries

Corvey’s Westwerk, preserved since the Abbey’s 9th-century founding, makes it a unique architectural testament. In 1803, the Benedictine abbey was secularized, after which princes used it as a palace and residence. Today, the complex is in private ownership but open to public visits. In 2014, the Abbey of Corvey was named a UNESCO World Heritage site.

Another World Heritage site is Reichenau Island in Lake Constance. The Benedictine abbey was founded in the early 8th century as one of Germany’s earliest monasteries. It rapidly evolved into a center for the arts. The surviving Ottonian murals in the island’s Romanesque churches testify to the abbey’s art-historical significance.

The ruins in Hessen were declared a World Cultural Heritage site in 1991. Like the Abbey of Corvey’s Westwerk, it was built in the Carolingian era as a Benedictine abbey. In the 13th century, the Cistercian order took it over, followed by Premonstratensian monks. The Abbey was dissolved in 1556.

Maulbronn Monastery in Baden-Württemberg is another World Heritage site and one of the best preserved complexes north of the Alps. The monastery was dissolved during the Reformation and later converted into a Protestant seminary for students preparating for ordination. The astronomer Johannes Kepler and author Hermann Hesse number among its alumni.

Erfurt‘s Augustinian Monastery has applied for inscription as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Martin Luther lived here from 1505 to 1511 as an Augustinian monk. Much later, he described those years as the most defining of his life. In 1559, during the Reformation, the monastery was closed. In years afterwards, its buildings were used as an orphanage and a library, among other things.

Benedictine monks still live in one of Bavaria’s most important places of pilgrimage. Tourists also come to the abbey to enjoy its splendid rococo architecture and famous beer, which has been brewed on the holy mountain since the 15th century. They can enjoy the view of the Alps from the Bräustüberl terraces and even spend the night in the abbey.

Founded as a Cistercian monastery in 1136, the Eberbach Abbey grew into a flourishing center of faith and learning in the high Middle Ages - and became famous for its wine. In the 16th century, the cellars are said to have housed world’s largest wine barrel. Today, the Eberbach Abbey, nestled in the picturesque wine-growing country of the Rheingau, is a Hessian state vineyard estate.

The Abbey’s basilica is regarded as a masterpiece of Romanesque sacred architecture in Germany. The Laach Abbey was founded in 1093 and secularized in 1802. But in 1892, it was restored to the Benedictine monks and made an abbey again a year later. Today, various handcraft shops, a book and art publisher and an organic farm are owned by the Maria Laach Abbey.

This basilica in the Bavarian Alps is famous for its magnificent Baroque interiors. The initial Gothic church was built in the high Middle Ages on a twelve-sided ground plan quite unusual for the time. The abbey was secularized in 1803, but Benedictine monks returned in 1898 and filled the abbey with new life, operating a brewery, several guest houses and a hotel.

This Benedictine abbey is Bavaria’s oldest monastery. Monks of a Hiberno-Scottish mission are said to have settled on the site in the 7th century. But the abbey church is a product of the Baroque. Tourists focus on the abbey’s history and its picturesque surroundings in a bend of the River Danube. There’s also a guest house for overnight stays.