Himmerod Abbey is a Cistercian  monastery in the community of Großlittgen

Großlittgen

Großlittgen is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Bernkastel-Wittlich district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany....

 in the Verbandsgemeinde

Verbandsgemeinde

A Verbandsgemeinde is an administrative unit in the German Bundesländer of Rhineland-Palatinate and Saxony-Anhalt.-Rhineland-Palatinate:...

of Manderscheid

Manderscheid

Manderscheid can refer to:*Manderscheid, Bernkastel-Wittlich, a town in the district Bernkastel-Wittlich, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.*Manderscheid, Bitburg-Prüm a village in the district Bitburg-Prüm, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, part of the Verbandsgemeinde Arzfeld.*the Counts of Manderscheid...

 in the district of Bernkastel-Wittlich

Bernkastel-Wittlich

Bernkastel-Wittlich is a district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is bounded by the districts of Vulkaneifel, Cochem-Zell, Rhein-Hunsrück, Birkenfeld, Trier-Saarburg and Bitburg-Prüm.- History :...

, Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate

Rhineland-Palatinate is one of the 16 states of the Federal Republic of Germany. It has an area of and about four million inhabitants. The capital is Mainz. English speakers also commonly refer to the state by its German name, Rheinland-Pfalz ....

, Germany

Germany

Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

, located in the Eifel

Eifel

The Eifel is a low mountain range in western Germany and eastern Belgium. It occupies parts of southwestern North Rhine-Westphalia, northwestern Rhineland-Palatinate and the south of the German-speaking Community of Belgium....

, in the valley of the Salm

Salm River (Germany)

The Salm is a 63 km-long river in western Germany , a left-bank tributary to the river Moselle. It rises in the Eifel, near the village of Salm, south of Gerolstein. The Salm flows generally south, through Großlittgen, Dreis, and Salmtal. It passes west of Wittlich. It empties into the Moselle...

.

First foundation

Himmerod Abbey was founded in 1134 by Saint Bernard

Bernard of Clairvaux

Bernard of Clairvaux, O.Cist was a French abbot and the primary builder of the reforming Cistercian order.After the death of his mother, Bernard sought admission into the Cistercian order. Three years later, he was sent to found a new abbey at an isolated clearing in a glen known as the Val...

 and is a direct foundation of Clairvaux

Clairvaux Abbey

Clairvaux Abbey is a Cistercian monastery in Ville-sous-la-Ferté, 15 km from Bar-sur-Aube, in the Aube département in northeastern France. The original building, founded in 1115 by St. Bernard, is now in ruins; a high-security prison, the Clairvaux Prison, now occupies the grounds...

. In its turn it founded a daughter house, Heisterbach Abbey

Heisterbach Abbey

Heisterbach Abbey was a Cistercian monastery in the Siebengebirge near Oberdollendorf in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.-Petersberg:...

, in 1189. The Baroque

Baroque

The Baroque is a period and the style that used exaggerated motion and clear, easily interpreted detail to produce drama, tension, exuberance, and grandeur in sculpture, painting, literature, dance, and music...

 church was completed in 1751, but after secularisation from 1802 under French occupation fell into ruin.

Second foundation

In 1922 the monastery was re-founded by the settlement here of German Cistercian monks from the former monastery of Mariastern

Mariastern Abbey

Mariastern Abbey is a Cistercian nunnery in Hohenweiler, Austria. It is the mother house of Marienfeld Abbey, founded in 1974....

 in the present Bosnia

Bosnia and Herzegovina

Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...

. The church was re-built under Abbot Vitus Recke (abbot from 1937 to 1959), and completed in 1962, and contains a famous organ

Organ (music)

The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...

 by Johannes Klais.

The new abbey founded the Abbey of the Holy Cross, Itaporanga

Itaporanga, São Paulo

Itaporanga is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil. The population in 2004 is 14,324 and the area is 508.19 km². The elevation is 589 m. This place name comes from the Tupi language: Ita=pedra , Poranga=bonita ....

 near São Paulo

São Paulo

São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...

 in Brazil

Brazil

Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...

, in 1936.

The present community (as of 2006) consists of 14 monks. The abbey has a museum, a book - and art shop, a café, a guesthouse and retreat-house and a fishery.

The present abbot (as of 2006) is Bruno Fromme, in post since 1991.

Publishers

The abbey also has its own publishing house, the "Himmerod Drucke", which to date has published over 50 works by a number of authors, especially Father Stephan Reimund Senge, a monk at Himmerod. The journal "Unsere Liebe Frau von Himmerod" ("Our Lady of Himmerod") appears three times a year, and the newsletter "Himmeroder Rundbrief" (ed. Father Stephan) about 10 times a year.

Himmeroder Denkschrift

From 5 October to 9 October 1950 officers of the former Wehrmacht

Wehrmacht

The Wehrmacht – from , to defend and , the might/power) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe .-Origin and use of the term:...

met here in conference on the authority of the West German government, in order to prepare the way for Chancellor Konrad Adenauer

Konrad Adenauer

Konrad Hermann Joseph Adenauer was a German statesman. He was the chancellor of the West Germany from 1949 to 1963. He is widely recognised as a person who led his country from the ruins of World War II to a powerful and prosperous nation that had forged close relations with old enemies France,...

 to launch the remilitarisation of Germany. The outcome of the conference was the "Himmerod Consultation Paper" ("Himmeroder Denkschrift"). This was one of many events that lead to the official founding of the Bundeswehr

Bundeswehr

The Bundeswehr consists of the unified armed forces of Germany and their civil administration and procurement authorities...

in 1955.

External links

Himmerod Abbey website The Klais Organ Initiative Sudan, an aid development project of Father Stephan from Himmerod