Ebrach Abbey

Ebrach Abbey (

The monks were active in viticulture, forestry, and keeping sheep. The monastery became one of the wealthiest in Franconia.[1]

Gertrude von Sulzbach, King Konrad's wife, who died in 1146 was buried here.^[4]

Construction of today's church started in 1200 and was mostly completed in 1285. The final part of the main building to be finished was the west façade.^[3]: 240

The abbey was dissolved during the

Since 1851 part of the premises has served as a prison (Justizvollzugsanstalt Ebrach) and since 1958 as a young offenders' institution.[6]

Description

Church

Ebrach Abbey is a classical example of early Gothic Cistercian architecture. It is a three-aisled cruciform basilica. The transept ends in the east at four chapels, another twelve surround the choir. The exterior today mostly retains its original appearance (although a wooden tower was added in 1716), but the interior was significantly changed in the 18th century.^[3]: 240

The late 13th-century west façade features a Gothic portal flanked by statues of the patrons Mary and

The interior of the church was changed in the later 18th century, in French Neoclassical style. Materno Bossi [de] created the stucco designs. He added Corithian columns, a Neoclassical sill and covered the Gothic vaulting rib with stucco garlands. Walls and ceiling were covered by white and yellow stucco. Stucco reliefs show scenes from the life of Jesus (nave) and from the life of Bernard of Clairvaux (choir). Oil paintings on the walls of the side aisles show saints or beatified members of the Cistercian order.^[3]: 241

The altars were made by Bossi from stucco resembling marble. The statues adorning them were made by

The choir contains stalls carved with wood and alabaster scenes from the life of Jesus. Above the stalls, both sides are occupied by the organ. The Rococo wrought-iron lattice that once divided the choir from the nave (made in 1743 by Marx Gattinger) was dismantled after the church was transformed into a parish church and the central piece was reinstalled beneath the organ gallery at the church entrance. This gallery dates from 1704 and the organ, by J. Ph. Seuffert, was added in 1743 (Rococo carvings by A. Gutmann).^[3]: 241

The southern transept features a sculpture group of the Pentecost (1696, by G.B. Brenno) above a false door, flanked by statues of the founder, Berno, and the first abbot, Adam. The stucco mausoleum is a mix of Renaissance and Gothic styles.^[3]: 241

Access to the ring of chapels is via stucco-marble archways by Daniel Friedrich Humbach (1741), showing

In the northern transept stands a Renaissance altar made from sandstone and alabaster dedicated to Bernard of Clairvaux, created in 1625/6 by Veit Dümpel. To the right of this altar is the entrance to the Michaeliskapelle with three altars dedicated in 1207 that survived the redecoration of the church. The chapel combines late Romanesque and early Gothic features. Since the axis of this chapel and the crypt below are not aligned with the rest of the church, these may be the oldest parts of the structure, begun before the plan for the overall basilica was finished.^[3]: 241

Monastic buildings

The Baroque abbey buildings were built in two phases (1687-98 and 1715-35), grouped around two enclosed and three open courtyards. The two main façades, the northern of the Abteibau and the western of the Festssaalbau face a

The parks were significantly changed in the 19th century. The large fountain by W. van der Auvera, showing Heracles and Antaeus (1747). A guard tower to the south west was planned by Balthasar Neumann. To the northwest and north there are administrative buildings and a terrace with an orangerie. In the past gates around the square were locked at night. The Bamberger Tor still remains.^[3]: 241

Today

A museum and some parts of the abbey buildings can still be visited on guided tours of the prison area. The church is open to the public. Summer concerts are held in the abbey's Imperial Hall and in the church.^[7]

Gallery

• 
  Rose window exterior
• 
  Detail of ceiling vault at crossing
• 
  Angel figure
• 
  Ceiling

References

Further reading

• Adelhard Kaspar: Chronik der Abtei Ebrach, Münsterschwarzach 1971.
• Wolfgang Wiemer: Zisterzienserabtei Ebrach. Geschichte und Kunst. München und Zürich 1992 (= Schnell & Steiner, Große Kunstführer Band 177).
  ISBN 3-7954-0852-0
  .
• Wolfgang Wüst: "… im flor der reichs-ohnmittelbarkeit": Die Zisterzienserabtei Ebrach zwischen Fürstendienst und Reichsfreiheit unter Abt Eugen Montag (1791-1802), in: Jahrbuch für Fränkische Landesforschung 57 (1997) p. 181–198.
  ISSN 0446-3943
  .
• Wolfgang Wüst: Gemeinde- und Dorfrechte unter den Ebracher Zisterziensern. Zur Frage frühneuzeitlicher Selbstbestimmung. Mit der Edition der Großbirkacher Dorfordnung von Abt Wilhelm Söllner (1714−1741), in: Würzburger Diözesan-Geschichtsblätter 78 (2015) p. 429–446.
  ISSN 0342-3093
  .
• Wolfgang Wiemer: Die Gärten der Abtei Ebrach, Berlin 1999,
  ISBN 3-7861-1541-9
  .
• Wolfgang Wiemer: Festschrift Ebrach - 200 Jahre nach der Säkularisation 1803, Forschungskreis Ebrach (ed.), 2004.
  ISBN 3-9301-0411-3
  .
• Wolfgang Wiemer: Harmonie und Maß - Ergebnisse der Proportionsanalyse der Abteikirche Ebrach, in: J.J. Emerick and D.B. Deliyannis (Hrsg.): Archeology in Architecture - Studies in Honor of Cecil L Striker, Mainz 2005, p. 199–216.
• H. Mayer: Kleiner Kunstführer – Ehemalige Zisterzienserabteikirche Ebrach (Schnell & Steiner Kunstführer Nr. 274), Regensburg 1938, 22. Auflage (2008) by Wolfgang Wiemer,
  ISBN 978-3-7954-4211-8
  .
• Annett Haberlah-Pohl: Lutherische Verwalter in einer katholischen Enklave. Die Pfleger des Ebracher Klosterhofs in Nürnberg 1744 bis 1803, in: Jahrbuch für Fränkische Landesforschung 64 (2004), p. 105–130

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Kloster Ebrach.

• (in German) Klöster in Bayern: Ebrach
• (in German) Ebrach Prison, Bayerisches Justizportal
• Heart rituals at Ebrach