Marienau Charterhouse
The Charterhouse Marienau is a monastery of contemplative Carthusian Order in Marienau, a partial town of Bad Wurzach in the district of Ravensburg in Upper Swabia. It is the only existing Charterhouse in Germany.
History
The Charterhouse Marienau is inhabited by monks since 1964. It was founded in 1869 as a replacement of the built in Maria grove in Dusseldorf - Rath Under Charterhouse, as the Carthusians had to withdraw from there because of the expanding city and the expansion of the Düsseldorf airport.
The Charterhouse
The Carthusian monastery was built in the years 1962-1964 according to the design of 1961, the architect Emil Steffann and Gisberth M. Hülsmann. Guiding principle in the design of the Charterhouse were the religious ideal corresponding to poverty and simplicity. It is in the monastery Marienau a so-called double - Charterhouse, namely that twice twelve hermitages are created. There are historically also simple and triple charterhouses. The after the Order developed itself under the leadership of Father Marianus Marck overall system is divided into five functional clearly distinguishable areas:
The buildings on the large cloister storey, while the remaining components of the Charterhouse have two floors. They are all in a very simple craft design - decked- brick walls and beamed ceiling with red plain tile cover - was built. The exterior walls are painted yellow. To the entire system around is a cloister wall (height about 2.5 m / length about 1.2 km, with three goals ) out. It surrounds the building of the former Feser - farm with greenhouses and plant.
Center of the ten -acre monastery is the church with its simple wooden roof skylights. Inside, the church is simple white and kept unadorned. The little cloister adjoins the church with artisanal groin vaults in order to be grouped together for a common rooms of the monastery ( chapter house, refectory and library) to which is connected on the other hand the Great Cloister, the characteristic element of each Charterhouse. To the great cloister of the hermitages of the Fathers are created. In Marienau Monastery of the long wings of the great cloister, with 9 of 24 cells ( hermitages ) has a length of 148 m, while the short wing is 101 m long.
In the middle of the monastery complex is also the cemetery. Traditionally Carthusian be buried without a coffin in her Habit lying on a wooden board. As a tomb is a simple wooden cross with no name. To meet the legal requirements, but exists in the monastery administration a plan which shows who was buried where. There is another large wooden cross, under which the bones of the dead of the former Carthusian monastery Maria grove are buried at the front of the cemetery. When moving to Marienau the bones of the deceased were in Maria Hain transferred to the new Charterhouse.
A wooden bridge, the two-storey brothers Monastery ( about 80 x 50 m with about 15 cells) from the small cloister can be reached. The cells of the brothers are upstairs, in the basement is space. The Brüderbau also has its own chapel brothers. The detached garage and storage building for metal and wood as well as for horticulture surround the Brüderbau. The whole complex is surrounded by an eight-foot- high and 1,250 m long cloistered walls. The gate and the guest house are created as part of the abbey wall. Here are also the rooms for the accommodation of guests. For family members of the monks who come to visit, a separate area with its own garden and chapel ( "Ladies Chapel " ) is set up.
Like all the Marienau charterhouses can not be visited. Male visitors can daily at 15:00 clock, mitvollziehen from the gallery of the monastery church sung Vespers. In the summer months following the time change to Central European Summer Time (CEST ) Vespers takes place daily at 16:00 clock.