Rheinau Abbey
Rheinau Abbey (Kloster Rheinau) was a
History
The foundation of the abbey, on a strategically sheltered bend of the Rhine, is supposed to have taken place in about 778. In the ninth century, the community number forty-three, about half of whom were ordained priests.[1] St. Findan was from Ireland; after escaping Viking slavers, he lived at the abbey as a hermit for twenty-two years.[2]
In 1114 a
Against the increasingly aggressive territorial claims of the Counts of
In the 18th century under Abbot Gerold II Zurlauben, Rheinau Abbey, like
During the turmoil of the French Revolution and the French invasion of Switzerland in 1798, the abbey was temporarily suspended, but restored in 1803. The abbey's territory with the little town of Rheinau were added to the newly restored Canton of Zürich, which placed it under cantonal supervision in 1834 and from 1836 prevented it from accepting new novices. In 1862 the cantonal council decreed the dissolution of the abbey.
From 1603 until its dissolution the abbey was a member of the Swiss Congregation, now part of the Benedictine Confederation.
After dissolution
In 1867 in the abbey buildings a cantonal hospital and nursing home were set up. The later cantonal psychiatric clinic that developed here was closed in 2000, since when the buildings have stood empty.
- Rheinau Abbey - Kloster Rheinau
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References
External links
- Rheinau Abbey: history and pictures (in German)
![[2]](https://web.archive.org/web/20070928190729/http://rheinau.net/sp/Rheinau/DSCN0228.jpg){kind=link}