August 1, 2015

Eberbach Monastery

This place was not only the home of Cistercian monks, it was also one of the locations of the movie "The Name of the Rose" (with Sean Connery). The landscape around the monastery is spectacular - as is the first view of it. Founded in 1136 the abbey was dissolutioned only in 1803. More information can be found on their website.

Here you can see a model of the monastery as well as a map of area.

If you want to get the full experience of the buildings you should follow the tour that leads you through the complete monastery.

Set around the inner courtyard are beautiful archways - all of them adorned with sandstone reliefs. 

The abbey will take your breath away with its beauty. 

All over the place are murals, reliefs, statues and sandstone carvings. 

Going up a staircase at the side of the church there is an alcove to one side where you can light a candle and say a prayer...

... whereas you can get a view into a scriptorium on the other side.

On top of the stairs is the dormitorium - the place where the monks slept. Back then the hall was divided into small cells.

The dormitorium is also the home of several swallows who built their nests on the ceiling. 

From here you can enter the museum that exhibits statues, old books and maps, regalias and various crucifixes.

Here you can also find beautiful examples of glass painting.

Throughout the monastery are windows that often paint their surroundings with colorful splashes of light.

And if you look up there is beauty to be found on the ceilings too.

Across one of the courtyards...

... is the entrance to the building that houses the ancient wine presses. 

The first three pictures show the doors that lead into that building - the others can be found in or around the monastery.

The result of the work with the wine presses can be found in the wine cellar. 

On one of the outer walls is also a gorgeous sun dial.

Last but not least here are impressions from around the monastery.

To demonstrate the sometimes impressive change of the picture's mood due to the absence of color I changed some of the pictures to black and white.