Schussenried Abbey

17 fun facts about Schussenried Abbey

1. Location: Schussenried Abbey is located in Bad Schussenried, in the Upper Swabian district of Biberach, Baden-Württemberg. It sits right in the heart of the town, surrounded by the gentle rolling hills of Upper Swabia. The abbey lies along the Upper Swabian Baroque Route, a famous cultural and scenic trail that connects the region’s most magnificent Baroque churches and monasteries.
2. Foundation story: Schussenried Abbey was founded in 1183, when the childless noble brothers Konrad and Beringer of Schussenried donated their estate—including a church, nearby villages, forests, and farmland—to the Premonstratensian canons. Shortly afterward, canons from Weißenau Abbey near Ravensburg, about 30 kilometers away, arrived to establish their new monastery here. After the founders’ deaths, Konrad von Wartenberg claimed the former family property, sparking a lengthy dispute that was finally settled in 1205 in favor of the abbey.
3. Premonstratensian Order: The Premonstratensian Order was founded in 1120 by Norbert of Xanten in Prémontré, in present-day France. The order follows the Rule of Saint Augustine, which calls for communal living without private property, daily prayer, and service to others. Today, the order has around 1,600 members worldwide, living in more than 30 countries.
4. Building history: After the inheritance dispute was resolved, Schussenried Abbey gradually expanded and modernized its originally Romanesque complex. Under Abbot Heinrich Österreicher, the church received a prestigious western extension, an elongated choir, and new Gothic vaulting at the end of the 15th century, giving it a more striking appearance. In the early 17th century, new convent buildings were added and the tower was raised with an additional level.
5. Thirty Years’ War: The Thirty Years’ War (1618–1648) began as a religious conflict between Catholic and Protestant princes within the Holy Roman Empire but soon turned into a European power struggle involving the Habsburgs, Sweden, and France. During the war, Schussenried Abbey suffered greatly, facing heavy levies and frequent troop quartering. In 1647, Swedish soldiers set large parts of the complex on fire, leaving only the abbot’s residence, the church choir, and part of the library intact. Immediately after the destruction, the community began a swift and pragmatic reconstruction: the church received a new barrel vault, and the destroyed convent buildings were rebuilt by around 1660.
6. Secularization: At the beginning of the 19th century, secularization marked a major political upheaval in which ecclesiastical territories were dissolved and their assets transferred to secular rulers. In Schussenried, this process ended the centuries-long history of the Imperial Abbey in 1803 and transferred all monastery property to the Counts of Sternberg-Manderscheid. In the years that followed, the church treasury and library were sold, the convent was dissolved, and in 1806 the complex passed into the hands of the Kingdom of Württemberg. Over the following decades, the abbey was fundamentally transformed, as large sections of the buildings were demolished or put to new uses.
7. Psychiatric hospital: A psychiatric hospital was established at Schussenried Abbey in 1875 and soon developed into an important institution for the care of people with mental illnesses. Daily life followed a strict routine, and for many decades occupational therapy in agriculture and workshops played a central role, before more modern treatment approaches were gradually introduced in the 20th century. The institution eventually evolved into what is now the Center for Psychiatry Bad Schussenried.
8. Dark chapter: During the Nazi era, the regime labeled many people with mental illnesses and disabilities as “hereditarily ill” and “inferior,” turning them into victims of its policy of medical murder. At the Schussenried hospital, this persecution began in 1934, when forced sterilizations were carried out under the “Law for the Prevention of Hereditarily Diseased Offspring.” In 1940, several transports followed to the Grafeneck killing center, where hundreds of patients from Schussenried were murdered in gas chambers. Today, a memorial and regular commemorative ceremonies keep the memory of these victims alive.
9. Library: The Rococo library hall was created between 1754 and 1766 and, under Abbot Nikolaus Kloos, became the magnificent centerpiece of Schussenried Abbey. It was furnished with stucco marble columns, painted bookcases, a large ceiling fresco, and alabaster figures added later, and soon after its completion it was considered one of the most beautiful library rooms in southern Germany. At the same time, plans were drawn up for a far larger, symmetrically designed monastery complex with a complete south wing, additional service buildings, and an entirely new abbey church. Rising costs and an increasingly unfavorable political climate prevented these plans from being realized, making the library hall the abbey’s final major construction project.
10. Famous ceiling fresco: The ceiling fresco in the library hall was created in 1757 by Franz Georg Hermann, who devised a complex pictorial program focused on faith, knowledge, and the development of the Church. At its center stands divine wisdom, surrounded by scenes from the Bible, classical antiquity, Church history, and the scholarly world of the 18th century, including allegories of the sciences and well-known historical figures. With its luminous colors, illusion of an open sky, and abundance of symbolic detail, the fresco ranks among the most impressive Rococo ceiling paintings in southern Germany.
11. Alabaster figures: The library hall contains 24 alabaster figures arranged along the gallery between the red gleaming stucco marble columns. The larger figures represent important Church Fathers, while the smaller, exotically dressed figures with turbans, ruffs, books, or scimitars symbolize religions and doctrines that were regarded in the 18th century as “different” or “misleading.”
12. Abbey Church of St. Magnus: The Abbey Church of St. Magnus is the former monastic church of the Premonstratensians and is considered one of the most important late Romanesque churches in the region. Its interior blends Romanesque, Gothic, and Baroque elements and impresses visitors with colorful frescoes, richly carved choir stalls, and several finely crafted altars. After secularization, it became the parish church of Bad Schussenried.
13. Magnus Staff: The Magnus Staff is the abbey’s most famous relic and contains a fragment of the walking staff attributed to Saint Magnus. For centuries, monks carried it in prayer processions across the fields to ask for protection from storms and crop pests. Today, the richly decorated staff is kept in the Museum of Schussenried Abbey and is displayed only on special occasions.
14. Saint Magnus: Saint Magnus of Füssen worked as a missionary in the region in the 8th century and is still venerated as the “Apostle of the Allgäu.” His reputation as a miracle worker is based on traditions describing how he drove away snakes, healed illnesses, and protected fields from pests, making him an important figure in regional folk devotion. Frescoes and sculptures in the church commemorate his life, and his feast day is still celebrated in Bad Schussenried at the Magnus Festival on the third weekend in September.
15. Caspar Mohr and his flying machine: Caspar Mohr was a Premonstratensian of the early 17th century who studied in Freiburg and Rome and excelled as a theologian, organist, organ builder, clockmaker, and versatile craftsman. He became famous for a self-built flying machine consisting of a frame with large feathered wings attached to his arms and shoulders, inspired by the flight of birds. During a test, Mohr jumped from an upper floor of the abbey into the courtyard, lost control, and fell to the ground, injuring himself. The abbot then forbade further experiments, considering the flights life-threatening and an overstepping of the limits set by God. Mohr was later depicted in the library ceiling fresco as a small flying figure with outstretched wings.
16. Monastery brewery: Brewing in Schussenried began in 1183 with the founding of Schussenried Abbey, when the Premonstratensians established their own brewery. After secularization, brewing passed into private hands, and in 1906 the former monastic brewhouse developed into the Schussenrieder family brewery Ott.
17. Museum: In the Baroque convent building of the New Abbey, the Museum of Schussenried Abbey presents a diverse collection of artistic, everyday, and sacred objects that vividly illustrate the abbey’s history and the life of the Premonstratensians. The New Abbey also houses a permanent exhibition on the history of psychiatry, which explores 200 years of treatment practices in Schussenried and documents the fate of the victims of Nazi euthanasia. The cultural offering is complemented by the Schussenried Beer Mug Museum at the Ott Erlebnisbrauerei, whose extensive collection of historic beer steins provides striking insights into regional brewing and drinking traditions.