Andechs Monastery

Benedictines have held the Holy Mountain since 1455, and the abbey grew as a pilgrimage site around a collection of relics kept in the church, still displayed in a chapel. Brewing is recorded here from 1455 and the monastery brewery now produces several beers sold in the abbey's own large beer garden and inn, which draws around a million visitors a year, most of them for the beer and the walk rather than the pilgrimage. The composer Carl Orff is buried in the abbey church. The classic approach is the walk up through woods from Herrsching on the Ammersee, taking about an hour.

History

In 955 relics that Count Rasso of Diessen had brought from Rome and the Holy Land were moved to the holy mountain to keep them safe from the Hungarians, and around 1100 Count Berthold II of Andechs built a new residence on the hill. In the 12th century three hosts said to have been consecrated by Popes Gregory I and Leo IX were added to the relics, and the first recorded pilgrimages came in 1138, when Count Berthold ordered his subjects to venerate them in the castle chapel of St Nicholas. After Otto II of Andechs and Merania lost his ancestral seat to the Wittelsbachs, the castle fell into ruin around the middle of the 13th century, leaving only the chapel, and with Otto's death in 1248 the Duchy of Merania came to an end; the composer Carl Orff is buried in the church (Wikipedia, Andechs Abbey).

What's there

• The abbey brewery - monastic beer served in a large hillside garden.
• The rococo church - a remodelled interior above the relic chapel.
• The Orff grave - the composer buried in the church.
• The walk up - a wooded path from Herrsching taking about an hour.

When to go

April to October; the beer garden is the point in warm weather and is packed on summer weekends. The church closes during services. Winter is much quieter.

Good to know

It is extremely busy, especially on fine weekends, and the atmosphere is a beer garden rather than a monastery. Parking is limited. The walk up is uphill throughout.

Nearby

The Ammersee lies below; Lake Starnberg is east.

Key facts