St. George's Abbey, Stein am Rhein

The Monastery of St. Georgen was a Benedictine monastery in Stein am Rhein in the Canton of Schaffhausen, Switzerland. Patrons of the monastery were St. George and St. Cyril of Gortyna. It is one of the best preserved medieval monasteries of Switzerland. The abbey was important for the development of the town of Stein am Rhein. The monastery is a valuable architectural and cultural monument from the beginning of the 11th century. It was founded in Roman times and rebuilt several times during the period from the 15th to the early 16th century. The monastery has already been abolished during the Reformation. Today it is a museum.

Importance

The Monastery of St. Georgen is a well-preserved medieval building with artistic designed interiors. Of particular importance to the Late Gothic cloister and the ballroom is equipped with a cycle of frescoes dating from around 1515th in the ballroom located in the window reveal on the west side two totentanz similar scenes painted by Ambrosius Holbein. It is death and lute player and a fool and violinist. The two images are arranged between the extensive murals, the destruction of Carthage and the Zurzach fair. The artists of these two paintings has created is not known, the destruction of Carthage is signed with the initials CA. The last abbot of the monastery of David corner home has prompted the decoration of the ballroom with designs from the religion and history. Probably because of the predominantly secular nature of these images have the iconoclasm of 1525 unscathed. The ballroom is thus one of the earliest evidence of the Renaissance in Northern Switzerland. The church, the cloister, the chapter house, the refectory and the dormitory and the Prelature as a residence of the abbots form a structural unit together with the farms and farm buildings.

History

Middle Ages

Duke Burchard III. of Swabia and his wife Hadwig were around 970 in addition to their castle on the Hegau volcanic Hohentwiel a Benedictine monastery building. At the Foundation was also Hadwig's brother, Duke Henry II of Bavaria, involved. The castle monastery was dedicated to St. George and had an attached court school ( scholastic palatine ). 973 Burchard died. Around this time, summoned Hadwig then Ekkehard II from the Abbey of St. Gallen on the Hohentwiel to take lessons from him in Latin. Hadwig was then able to maintain their position until her death in 994. But she had no descendants. By 1000, the monastery came therefore under the supervision of the emperor Henry II, the nephew and heir Hadwig. It was around 1005 moved at the request of the monks from Hohentwiel to the road and water crossing in Stein am Rhein. In order for this transport hub should be hedged. The Monastery of St. Georgen was under the lehnsrechtlich also founded by Henry II diocese Bamberg, church belonged to the diocese of Constance. In worldly things, the monastery was administered by the so-called Kastvögten. These were the ancestors of the Dukes of Zahringen in the 11th and 12th centuries. Since 1146 they allowed to be represented by the barons of the blade, where the Bailiwick of 1218 devolved entirely. The church has many components from the 12th century. The monastery buildings date mainly from the 13th to the 15th century. Between 1400 and 1480 was built in the exam section of the chapter house in its present form, also the cloister was designed in the Gothic style.

Renaissance

The emerging middle class could purchase the 1457 High Klingenburg and advocacies. The convent of St. Georgen was already recorded in 1474 in the civil rights of the City of Zurich, which also took in Kastvogtei claim from 1498. 1484, the town of Stein am Rhein imputed itself is also quite the protection and sovereignty of Zurich. The last abbot of David angles Home (1499-1526) joined in 1499 at his office. He expanded the monastery with his private living quarters to the Rhine from back. Their elaborate equipment is the humanistic education of the abbot. The ballroom was used as a reception room for distinguished guests. It shows a resulting 1515 fresco cycle north to the earliest evidence of the renaissance of the Alps counts.

Reformation

During the Reformation period, there was a dispute with the citizens of Stein am Rhein. Therefore David angular home felt compelled to pick up the monastery on July 5, 1525. The last abbot remained true to the old faith and fled to Radolfzell, where he already died the following year and was buried in the parish church. The building now under stood the city of Zurich and was inhabited by their officials. 1614, the bailiff hall was built; it also followed changes in the field of library and dormitory to create elegant spaces for the Zurich office man Hans Ulrich Stadler upstairs retreat of the southern tract. Otherwise, the construction status remained unchanged.

19th century

From 1806, the building was under the administration of Schaffhausen. In the 19th century, the structural substance of the monastery was first seriously threatened. 1834 acquired the merchant Johannes Peter the monastery. He donated it to the town of Stein am Rhein as a school building on the condition that it is no longer for sale. For the city but the monastery was a financial burden. When in 1852 the new school house was built, they therefore let space on a silk fabric and ribbon factory. In the ballroom, a sericulture was entertained in the refectory and rattled machines. Thanks to the industrial operation, the ceiling and wall paintings and partly also the floors were severely damaged. At times, the building was used as a gym and exercise room for the Cadets. When the city had suffered significant financial losses due to the bankruptcy of the national railway, the monastery building was advertised as a factory or to abort. The monastery then acquired on April 27, 1875, the Protestant pastor Ferdinand Vetter ( 1811-1888 ). His son, the Berne Professor of Germanic Philology cousin Ferdinand, led by restorations. He made the monastery a small cultural center, where history research-based associations and scholars met in 1891 and placed it under the protection of the Swiss Confederation.

20th century

The sale negotiations with the Federal Department of Home Affairs put an already in 1889. A foundation for the eventual purchase completion had been laid by the founding of the Gottfried Keller Foundation with a capital of three million francs in 1890. Ferdinand cousin had been called upon to draw up the deed of foundation. In view of his monastery he added the provision a "that the Foundation is committed to such existing works of art whose public purpose is assured the country to change, spend their funds ." From the estate of Ferdinand cousin the Monastery of St. Georgen then came in 1926 with the help of the canton of Schaffhausen and the town of Stein am Rhein in the possession of the Gottfried Keller Foundation. As of 1927, a comprehensive restoration and conservation of the buildings. The adjacent farm buildings and houses could be purchased, it was the transformation of the museum. Since 1945 the former Benedictine abbey property of Confederation.

Pictures

The Cloister

The ballroom, Renaissance frescos

Rooms of the abbot in the Prelature