Monastery and monastery school with a great tradition
Maulbronn Monastery is one of the most completely preserved medieval monastery complexes. This is why in 1993, UNESCO designated the impressive monastery as a World Heritage Site. Set in the heart of the fields and vineyards of the Stromberg-Heuchelberg Nature Park, the journey there will put you in the mood for the monastery experience. The former Cistercian monastery is an ensemble of top-class architecture and works of art ranging from the Romanesque to the Late Gothic. At a later date, it became a school with a number of famous graduates, including the astronomer Johannes Kepler and the Nobel Laureate Hermann Hesse.
Masterpieces of the Middle Ages
The ensemble is dominated by the cloister with the monastery church. What the monastery holds in architectural treasures, are among the most magnificent structures that the medieval master builders have bequeathed to the region of Southern Germany. Around 1220, an unknown architect created here an Early Gothic masterpiece – the church vestibule – and received the name of “paradise master” after this Maulbronn jewel. The other rooms of the monastery, however, are no less astounding: the cloister with the famous three-bowl Hygieia fountain, the monks’ dining hall with its delicate arch and – of course – the awe-inspiring monastery church with its art treasures.
School tradition for 450 years
Monks ceased to live in the monastery a long time ago. Shortly after the Reformation, a Württemberg monastery school moved into the medieval walls. Up to this day – 450 years later, children and adolescents are taught in the former monastery – an exceptionally long tradition. The buildings in the monastery are still lived in, while the wide courtyard with its lovely timer-framed buildings is the venue for atmospheric markets and festivities throughout the year, at which Maulbronn can display itself in all its beauty.
Museums in the monastery
A monastery museum graphically depicts the history of this important monument – including the period following the dissolution of the monastery. A subsequent addition is the Literature Museum, which guides the gaze to the many great minds who have graduated from the monastery school, including the astronomer Johannes Kepler, the poet Friedrich Hölderlin as well as the writer and Nobel Laureate Hermann Hesse.
The Cistercian landscape as an experience
The monks were masters of agriculture, with a formative influence on the regions where their communities settled and worked. This is still visible: from the monastery court, the gaze falls on the quarry stone walls of the monastery vineyards. There are special tours where you can experience and taste the Maulbronn wine culture. According to legend, the emergence of the “Maultasche” (a Swabian ravioli pastry), a southern German specialty, is associated with the monastery: it is said that a Maulbronn monk invented the pastry so as to have meat to eat during the strict fasting period – chopped small, mixed with herbs and wrapped in pasta dough.
Maulbronn Monastery (Kloster Maulbronn)
Klosterhof 5
75433 Maulbronn,
Phone +49(0)70 43.92 66-10
info@kloster-maulbronn.de