Rüeggisberg Priory

The monastery Rüeggisberg is a former Cluniac Priory in the community Rüeggisberg, Canton Bern, Switzerland.

After a foundation of Lütolds Rümligen (1015-1048), the monks Cono and Ulrich erected around 1072 the first cells. 1075 Before agreed Rudolf of Rheinfelden, Duke of Swabia, the founding of the monastery. Soon after 1100 began to be completed around 1175 construction of the Romanesque church of the northern transept and part of the transept are still preserved.

The priory was in the Middle Ages the most important monastery buildings in Switzerland and was an important stop on the Camino de Santiago. In the late Middle Ages, it fell into disrepair, however, and in 1484 was incorporated into the newly established canons of Bern Cathedral. The church was finally closed in 1541 after the introduction of the Reformation. The monastery served then as a quarry and partly as a barn.

From 1938 to 1947, the old foundations were uncovered again during an archaeological excavation. In today informed a small museum next to the rectory.