Bebenhausen Monastery

Founded around 1185 for Premonstratensians and taken over by Cistercians in 1190, Bebenhausen survived the Reformation as a Protestant seminary and was later adapted as a royal hunting lodge, which meant the buildings were maintained rather than demolished; the result is one of the most complete surviving monastic complexes in southern Germany. The summer refectory has a vaulted ceiling on slender columns spreading like palms, and the cloister, dormitory, chapter house and mills survive. King Wilhelm II of Württemberg used the lodge and his widow Charlotte lived there until 1946. The Schönbuch forest surrounds it as a nature park.

History

Around 1185 Rudolph I, Count Palatine of Tübingen, gave Bebenhausen, then an abandoned village on the edge of the Schönbuch, to the Premonstratensians, who are recorded here in 1187 but left later in that decade; the Cistercian General Chapter at Cîteaux accepted the gift in 1190 and sent monks from Schönau Abbey to found a new monastery. The church was consecrated in 1228 by the Bishop of Constance, and under the Cistercians the abbey flourished, so that by 1275 it paid the highest dues to the bishop of all the Benedictine and Cistercian abbeys in the diocese (Wikipedia, Bebenhausen Abbey).

What's there

• The summer refectory - a vault spreading from slender central columns.
• The complete plan - cloister, dormitory, chapter house and mills.
• The hunting lodge - royal rooms fitted into the monastic buildings.
• The Schönbuch forest - a nature park enclosing the valley.

When to go

April to October; the monastery closes Mondays and reduces hours in winter. The palace rooms are shown on separate guided tours at set times.

Practical notes

Monastery and palace need separate tickets and the palace is guided-only. Interiors are largely bare. The village around it is tiny.

Nearby

Tübingen lies south; Stuttgart is north.

Key facts