Maulbronn - Monastery

Maulbronn Monastery is so complex, that I upload this photo of an architectural model as an overview. Many detailled shots will follow. This is believed to be one of the the best-preserved medieval Cistercian monastery complex north of the Alpes.

All buildings seen here in small scale are still in place, even the fortification still runs all around.

The monastery was founded in 1147. The church, built in a style transitional from Romanesque to Gothic, was consecrated in 1178. A number of the other buildings, seen here followed within the 13th century.

After the Reformation the monastery was looted a couple of times. It got secularised in 1534 and in 1556 a Protestant seminary opened. Johannes Kepler studied here some years later.

In 1630 the Cistercians returned. Only two years later, they were forced out again and the seminary reopened again. In 1807 the seminary merged with another to "Evangelical Seminaries of Maulbronn and Blaubeuren" - and still today a boarding school exists here. Authors Friedrich Hoelderlin and Hermann Hesse studied here. Hesse´s novel "Beneath the Wheel" features Maulbronn.