Eusserthal Abbey

Daughter monasteries

No

The monastery Eußerthal is a former Cistercian monastery in Eußerthal at Annweiler am Trifels. From the monastery, only the front part of the former monastery church has been preserved, and now serves as a parish church.

History

The monastery was founded in 1148 by Stephan Knight of Mörlheim and monastery of Villers- Bettnach in Lorraine with Cistercian monks settled ( filiation of Mori Moon). Task of the monastery was first mainly the cultivation of the valley. 1186 the monastery was provided by Frederick I Barbarossa under imperial protection and subsequently received large donations. Among other things, he owned numerous vineyards in the southern Palatinate. The monks had to Trifels as chaplain and guarded the imperial regalia during their retention period at the castle in the 12th and 13th centuries. Then the importance of the monastery fell sharply.

Around the monastery quickly developed into a settlement. In the 15th century the monastery was looted several times. During the Peasants ' War in 1525, the monastery was looted and set on fire, it was built in 1552 by Abbot Martin II again. 1561, Elector Frederick III. the monastery cancel due to the Reformation.

The village now belonged to Electoral Palatinate. 1591 Eußerthal was given its own parish. In the 17th and 18th century, several attempts were made to revive the monastery again, but they failed.

At the monastery Eußerthal was a priory in Mörlheim.

Church building

The church was probably begun in 1220 and consecrated in 1262. The ground plan of the church is still Romanesque, but the cross vault already show an early Gothic style. According to the habit of the Cistercians, the Church has no towers, but only a roof turret on the crossing, and dispensed in the interior on a colored design. The building is made of red sandstone, which was broken in the area. It is a three-aisled cruciform pillar basilica with a transept. The vaults of the nave and choir are held by open buttresses. A similarity with the previously dated abbey church Otter mountain, but which is much larger, is unmistakable.

Today stand out from the monastery church only the choir, the transept and the first bay of the nave. The monastery and the cloister are gone. What remains are still the tracery rose window in the chancel wall and a well-preserved relief sculpture made ​​of sandstone, showing a dragon. The interpretation of this figure on a door arch is uncertain.

In the 18th century, the remains of the church were established as a parish church. For this purpose, the upper windows were drafted and drafted a new simple western facade after demolition of the ruins of the nave. The building now has the character of a centralized structure. The acoustics are perfect for church musical events. The summer concerts in the Abbey Church are known nationwide. 1961 were held extensive renovations to the building fabric, which brought to bear the Romanesque character of the building again.

The organ in the south transept has 23 stops on two manuals and pedal and was built by the Hasslocher Orgelbaumeister Hugo weir in the seventies.