Kloster Eberbach

Founded in 1136 by Cistercians from Clairvaux, Eberbach became one of the largest wine producers in the medieval Rhineland, with its own fleet on the Rhine. The buildings survive largely intact: a plain Romanesque church, a vaulted monks' dormitory of about seventy-four metres, a chapter house and a lay refectory now holding a collection of large wooden wine presses, some from the seventeenth century. Jean-Jacques Annaud filmed the interiors of The Name of the Rose here in 1985 and 1986. The estate still makes wine as Hessische Staatsweingüter, and the surrounding Rheingau slopes carry Riesling.

What you actually see

• The monks' dormitory - a vaulted hall about seventy-four metres long.
• The press hall - large wooden wine presses in the lay refectory.
• The film location - interiors used for The Name of the Rose.
• The working estate - Riesling produced from the surrounding slopes.

When to go

April to October; the abbey is open year-round with shorter winter hours. Concerts and wine auctions use the halls in summer, restricting access on those days.

Honest expectations

Events close parts of the abbey without much notice. Wine tastings are separately priced. The complex is unheated and cold in winter.

Nearby

Eltville lies on the Rhine; Wiesbaden is east.