Wurmsbach Abbey is a monastery of Cistercian nuns located in Bollingen, a locality of Rapperswil-Jona. Count Rudolf of Rapperswil gave his castle of Wurmsbach together with a considerable area of land in 1259 for the foundation of a religious house and the abbey was established. It was initially a dependency of the Cistercian monks of Abbey of St. Urban in Wettingen. The abbey church was dedicated in 1281. Bollinger Sandstein was used for the construction of the abbey by dedicated quarries.

During the first Battle of Villmergen in 1656 and again during the occupation of the region by the French Revolutionary Army in 1799, the nuns were obliged to flee. On both occasions the abbey was completely pillaged, with the consequence that there are few treasures left.

The abbey is renowned for its location at the lake side. It overlooks uper Lake Zürich and the church is listed as a building of historical significance. The nuns run a secondary boarding school for girls. The gardens are known for the herbal remedies grown.

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Founded: 1281
Category: Religious sites in Switzerland

More Information

en.wikipedia.org

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4.2/5 (based on Google user reviews)

User Reviews

G ourmet_T23 (9 months ago)
Disappointing. Car ban. No walking. Load too. There was no good energy here at all (as is usually the case with such spiritual institutions). We quickly disappeared again.
David Brunner (17 months ago)
The sisters are always very friendly and the food in the restaurant is usually good. But the sauces could have a little more taste. The nature is very beautiful and for bathing there is a bathhouse where you can also lie down.
Karl-Heinz Armbruster (17 months ago)
Very quiet and idyllic place directly on Lake Zurich. The abbess is a surprise
M. Weingartner (20 months ago)
We spent study days for our master's thesis here and were well looked after. Beautiful place of power with dear sisters. Great, large rooms in a wonderful location! Great library with WiFi and coffee machine. Highly recommended for a break, for studying or simply as a "normal" guest. Also great destination. Should one support. Thanks very much.
S E (2 years ago)
The incredibly picturesque monastery of Mariazell Wurmsbach, located directly on the Obersee (Lake Zurich), is a Cistercian monastery that has existed since 1259 and is therefore older than Switzerland. It has been inhabited continuously since then and consists of the monastery church with cloister, the monastery buildings, the guest house, the walled monastery garden, the cemetery, a farm and the former girls' boarding school. Most of the historic buildings date from the 17th century. Today's monastery church was built in the years around 1600-1620. The cloister was built between 1615 and 1620 by the abbess Maria Dumeisen. In 1767 the church was redesigned in baroque style with a rococo ceiling. A last major redesign took place in 1866, when the church had become too small due to the opening of the boarding school. From 1836 to 2022 the monastery had a school for girls, from 1842 a girls' boarding school. This was closed in 2022 due to a lack of students.
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The arrival of the Maurist monks in 1659, after the disasters of the Wars of Religion, helped to get the abbey back on a firmer spiritual, architectural and economic footing. They erected a large monastic building one wing of which fitted tightly around the chapter house (which was otherwise left as it was).