Maulbronn Abbey

Infobox World Heritage Site
WHS = Maulbronn Monastery Complex


State Party = GER
Type = Cultural
Criteria = ii, iv
ID = 547
Region = Europe and North America
Year = 1993
Session = 17th
Link = http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/546

Maulbronn Abbey (German: "Kloster Maulbronn") is the best preserved medieval Cistercian monastery complex in Europe. It is situated on the outskirts of Maulbronn, Baden-Württemberg, Germany and is separated from the town by fortifications.

The monastery was founded in 1147 under the auspices of the first Cistercian pope, Eugenius III. The main church, built in a style transitional from Romanesque to Gothic, was consecrated in 1178 by Arnold, Bishop of Speyer. A number of other buildings — infirmary, refectory, cellar, auditorium, porch, south cloister, hall, another refectory, forge, inn, cooperage, mill, and chapel — followed in the course of the 13th century. The west, east and north cloisters date back to the 14th century, as do most fortifications and the fountain house.

After the Reformation broke out, the Duke of Württemberg seized the monastery in 1504 and built his hunting lodge and stables there. Half a century later, the former abbey was given over to a Protestant seminary, currently known as the Evangelical Seminaries of Maulbronn and Blaubeuren, which has occupied it ever since. The Protestant clerics adapted the monastic buildings for their own needs, e.g., they rebuilt the refectory.

The monastery, which features prominently in Hermann Hesse's novel "Beneath the Wheel", was inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1993. The justification for the inscription was as follows: "The Maulbronn complex is the most complete survival of a Cistercian monastic establishment in Europe, in particular because of the survival of its extensive water-management system of reservoirs and channels".

An image of Maulbronn Abbey is set to appear representing Baden-Württemberg on the reverse of the 2013 €2 commemorative coin for Germany.

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