Schussenried Abbey
Encyclopedia
Premonstratensian
The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré, also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines, or in Britain and Ireland as the White Canons , are a Catholic religious order of canons regular founded at Prémontré near Laon in 1120 by Saint Norbert, who later became Archbishop of Magdeburg...
monastery in Bad Schussenried
Bad Schussenried
Bad Schussenried is a town in Upper Swabia in the district of Biberach, Baden-Württemberg, Germany.It lies on the Upper Swabian Baroque Route.Schussenried Abbey, a former monastery founded in 1183, is located in Bad Schussenried...
, Upper Swabia
Upper Swabia
Upper Swabia is a region in Germany in the federal states of Baden-Württemberg and Bavaria. The name refers to the area between the Swabian Alb, Lake Constance and the Lech...
, Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg
Baden-Württemberg is one of the 16 states of Germany. Baden-Württemberg is in the southwestern part of the country to the east of the Upper Rhine, and is the third largest in both area and population of Germany's sixteen states, with an area of and 10.7 million inhabitants...
, 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...
.
History
In 1183 the monastery here was founded by the local landowners, Berengar and Konrad of Schussenried, and was settled from the Premonstratensian Rot an der Rot AbbeyRot an der Rot Abbey
Rot an der Rot Abbey was a Premonstratensian monastery in Rot an der Rot in Upper Swabia, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was the first Premonstratensian monastery in the whole of Swabia...
.
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III
Pope Innocent III was Pope from 8 January 1198 until his death. His birth name was Lotario dei Conti di Segni, sometimes anglicised to Lothar of Segni....
granted it his protection and guaranteed its immunity by a privilege of 13 February 1211. It acquired substantial endowments and built up a considerable territory, and was declared an imperial abbey (i.e., territorially independent) in 1440.
The abbey suffered tremendous damage and losses however in the Thirty Years' War
Thirty Years' War
The Thirty Years' War was fought primarily in what is now Germany, and at various points involved most countries in Europe. It was one of the most destructive conflicts in European history....
: many of the monastic buildings were burnt down by the Swedes
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
and the lands were largely laid waste.
Sufficient recovery had at length been made by the 18th century for comprehensive re-building to be undertaken, and the present name Neues Kloster ("new monastery") refers to 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...
re-construction from 1752. The planning was the responsibility of Dominikus Zimmermann
Dominikus Zimmermann
Dominikus Zimmermann was a German Rococo architect and stuccoist.-Life:Dominikus Zimmermann was born in Gaispoint near Wessobrunn in 1685 and became a Baumeister and a stuccoist. His older brother Johann Baptist Zimmermann was an architect and a frescoist...
. The original plan of four wings with an integrated church was not completely carried out for financial reasons: the present three-winged construction consists of the north wing plus stumps of the intended east and west wings, and represents about a third of the projected building complex.
After the German Mediatisation
German Mediatisation
The German Mediatisation was the series of mediatisations and secularisations that occurred in Germany between 1795 and 1814, during the latter part of the era of the French Revolution and then the Napoleonic Era....
of 1803 the abbey and its territory was given, in compensation for their losses to the west of the Rhine, to the Counts of Sternberg-Manderscheid, who used the abbey as their castle. In 1806 the territory was mediatised to the Kingdom of Württemberg
Kingdom of Württemberg
The Kingdom of Württemberg was a state that existed from 1806 to 1918, located in present-day Baden-Württemberg, Germany. It was a continuation of the Duchy of Württemberg, which came into existence in 1495...
, to whom the counts' heirs sold the buildings in 1835.
The State of Württemberg set up a foundry on part of the land, and in 1875 a nursing home was set up in the buildings. Until 1997 this was the State Psychiatric Hospital of Bad Schussenried, later known as the Centre for Psychiatry.
Since 1998 the "Neue Kloster" has been used as an exhibition and event centre.
Library
The Baroque library is the most spectacular part of the monastic buildings and one of the main sights of the Oberschwäbische Barockstraße. The room is extremely light. The locked bookcases are arranged in two storeys. The ornamentation is among the richest of the 18th century in the German-speaking world. The ceiling fresco completed by Franz Georg Hermann in 1757 shows in bewildering detail the workings of divine wisdom in apocalypseApocalypse
An Apocalypse is a disclosure of something hidden from the majority of mankind in an era dominated by falsehood and misconception, i.e. the veil to be lifted. The Apocalypse of John is the Book of Revelation, the last book of the New Testament...
, scholarship
Scholarship
A scholarship is an award of financial aid for a student to further education. Scholarships are awarded on various criteria usually reflecting the values and purposes of the donor or founder of the award.-Types:...
, education
Education
Education in its broadest, general sense is the means through which the aims and habits of a group of people lives on from one generation to the next. Generally, it occurs through any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts...
and craft
Craft
A craft is a branch of a profession that requires some particular kind of skilled work. In historical sense, particularly as pertinent to the Medieval history and earlier, the term is usually applied towards people occupied in small-scale production of goods.-Development from the past until...
.
To the most recent sculptures created for the room belong the eight groups of False Church Teachers, opposite which stand eight large figures of True Church Teachers. They are by Fidelis Sporer and were finished in 1766.
Abbey church
The abbey church is now the parish church, dedicated to Saint MagnusMagnus of Füssen
Saint Magnus of Füssen, otherwise Magnoald or Mang, was a missionary saint in southern Germany, also known as the Apostle of the Allgäu. He is believed to have been a contemporary either of Saint Gall or of Saint Boniface and is venerated as the founder of St. Mang's Abbey, Füssen.-Life:There is...
. It contains elements of Romanesque
Romanesque architecture
Romanesque architecture is an architectural style of Medieval Europe characterised by semi-circular arches. There is no consensus for the beginning date of the Romanesque architecture, with proposals ranging from the 6th to the 10th century. It developed in the 12th century into the Gothic style,...
Gothic and Baroque architecture. Among the most noteworthy features are the choir stalls by Georg Anton Macheln and the ceiling frescoes by Johannes Zick
Johannes Zick
Johannes Zick was a German painter of frescoes in southern Germany and active during the Baroque period...
showing the life of Norbert of Xanten
Norbert of Xanten
Saint Norbert of Xanten was a Christian saint and founder of the Norbertine or Premonstratensian order of canons regular.- Life and work :...
, founder of the Premonstratensians.
Provosts
- Friedrich 1183-1188
- Mangold 1188-1192
- Menfried 1205-1208
- Luither 1208-1209
- Burkhard 1209-1215
- Konrad I von Besserer 1215-1218
- Rudolf 1221-1222
- Konrad II 1223-1248
- Bertold I 1248-1278
- Ortholf I von Wielin 1278-1281
- Heinrich I 1282-1290
- Albert 1290-1302
- Konrad III 1302-1326
- Ortholf II Schorp 1326-1356
- Bertold II von Altheim 1356-1363
- Johannes I von Veser 1363-1371
- Hiltbrand von Wielin 1371-1404
- Konrad IV 1404-1420
- Johannes II Rothmund 1420-1438
Abbots
- Konrad V Rauber 1438-1466
- Petrus Fuchs 1467-1480
- Heinrich II Österreicher 1480-1505
- Johannes III Wittmayer 1505-1544
- Gallus Müller 1544-1545
- Jakob Renger 1545-1552
- Benedikt Wall 1552-1575
- Oswald Escher 1575-1582
- Ludwig Mangold 1582-1604
- Christoph Müller 1604-1606
- Martin Dietrich 1606-1621
- Matthaeus Rohrer 1621-1653
- Mathias Binder 1653-1655
- Augustin Arzet 1656-1666
- Bernhard Henlin 1666-1673
- Vincentius Schwab 1673-1683
- Tiberius Mangold 1683-1710
- Innocentius Schid 1710-1719
- Didacus Ströbele 1719-1733
- Siardus I Frick 1733-1750
- Magnus Kleber 1750-1756
- Nikolaus Kloos 1756-1775
- Joseph Krapf 1775-1791
- Siardus II Berchtold 1792-1803