Bebenhausen Monastery

Beben­hausen Monastery was built around 1180. It stands in the mid­dle of the Schön­buch (Beau­ti­ful For­est), only 40 km (25 mi) from downtown Stuttgart and close to the beau­ti­ful town of Tübin­gen.

The monastery was prob­a­bly found­ed around 1183 by Count Pala­tine Rudolph von Tübin­gen. The for­mer Cis­ter­cian monastery flour­ished between the 13th and 15th cen­turies, when it was one of the rich­est monas­ter­ies in the state of Württemberg.

In the 19th cen­tu­ry, it became the hunt­ing lodge of the kings of Würt­tem­berg. It went on to serve as the seat of the state par­lia­ment of Würt­tem­berg-Hohen­zollern from 1947 to 1952. The rep­re­sen­ta­tives even lived tem­porar­i­ly in the monastery!

Vis­i­tors can vis­it the monastery church and the clois­ter, as well as the grounds. Espe­cial­ly worth see­ing is the sum­mer refec­to­ry with its goth­ic dec­o­ra­tions. The clois­ter is one of the most impor­tant late Goth­ic build­ings in south­west­ern Ger­many and is quite well preserved.

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