Gottstatt Monastery

Gottstatt Monastery
Kloster Gottstatt
Location within Switzerland
Monastery information
Order Premonstratensian
Established 1255
Disestablished 1528
Diocese Lausanne
People
Founder(s) Count Rudolf I von Neuchâtel-Nidau
Architecture
Heritage designation ISOS
Site
Coordinates 47°08′14″N 7°18′46″E / 47.13722°N 7.31278°E / 47.13722; 7.31278Coordinates: 47°08′14″N 7°18′46″E / 47.13722°N 7.31278°E / 47.13722; 7.31278

Gottstat Monastery is a former Premonstratensian monastery in the Orpund community in Canton of Bern, Switzerland.

Establishment

Gottstatt Monastery church

It was established in 1255 by Count Rudolf I von Neuchâtel-Nidau. A previous attempt to establish a monastery on the site in 1247 there had been unsuccessful. The monastery church was built in 1300[1] and was the burial church for the Counts of Neuchâtel-Nidau. After their line became extinct in 1375, the monastery was inherited by the Counts of Kyburg-Burgdorf until it was acquired by Bern in 1388. Documents from 1295, 1309 and 1314 indicate that the monastery was a local pilgrimage site and expanded several times. A monastery school was in operation from the beginning. During the Gugler War of 1375 the monastery was attacked and heavily damaged by the Gugler knights. Shortly thereafter it was rebuilt. The last construction project on the monastery occurred during the tenure of the Abbot Konrad Meyer (1504-14). While the monastery owned a number of vineyards, houses and farms along with rights in a number of parishes, politically it was fairly weak. None of the 22 known abbots was a nobleman.[2]

Reformation

The monastery was closed in 1528 as part of the Reformation. From 1528 until 1798, the monastery building served as the seat of the bailiwick and low court of Gottstatt.[2]

In 1803 the whole monastery building and compound was sold into private ownership. The Reformed Church began buying back the monastery, piece by piece, in 1965. Today it is the parish church for the Orpund parish.

Teaching

Georg Simon Ohm was a teacher there for some time.

Literature

References

  1. Gottstatt parish (in German) accessed 16 August 2013
  2. 1 2 Gottstatt Monastery in German, French and Italian in the online Historical Dictionary of Switzerland.
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