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Founded: c. 1147Category: Religious sites in Germany
Historical period: Hohenstaufen Dynasty (Germany)
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Herrenalb Abbey is a former Cistercian monastery founded probably in 1147 or 1148 by Count Berthold of Eberstein. The new monastery was settled by monks from Neubourg Abbey in Alsace.
The abbey owned scattered estates and communities in the Alb valley in the northern Black Forest. The abbey was however never able to concentrate its lands so as to maximise their economic potential, and never became particularly wealthy. The abbey at some stage received a privilege as an Imperial abbey, but appears to have lost this status in 1497, with the abbey's territory being secularised to Württemberg, with Baden gaining some of the outlying villages.
It was laid waste in the German Peasants' War of 1525. After Duke Ulrich introduced the Reformation to Württemberg in 1534, the monks were forced to leave the abbey in 1536. A school was set up in the buildings in 1556 but was closed again in 1595.
Some buildings still remain of the original monastic complex, among them what appear to be the abbot's lodgings and the infirmary, besides ruins of the cloisters. The Romanesque tithe barn also still survives. Of the abbey church there are substantial remains of the Romanesque paradise (entrance hall). The Gothic choir was converted for use as a Lutheran church in 1739 and still contains many relics of its former use, including a monument to Bernard I, Margrave of Baden-Baden (died 1435, but not buried here). An impressive sculptured panel of the Crucifixion from the abbey was removed from Bad Herrenalb to Schloss Eberstein in the Murg valley in the 19th century.
References:The Jan Hus Memorial stands at one end of Old Town Square. The huge monument depicts victorious Hussite warriors and Protestants who were forced into exile 200 years after Hus, and a young mother who symbolises national rebirth. The monument was so large that the sculptor designed and built his own villa and studio where the work could be carried out. It was unveiled in 1915 to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Jan Hus' martyrdom. The memorial was designed by Ladislav Šaloun and paid for solely by public donations.
Born in 1369, Hus became an influential religious thinker, philosopher, and reformer in Prague. He was a key predecessor to the Protestant movement of the sixteenth century. In his works he criticized religious moral decay of the Catholic Church. Accordingly, the Czech patriot Hus believed that mass should be given in the vernacular, or local language, rather than in Latin. He was inspired by the teachings of John Wycliffe.