Maulbronn Monastery
Kloster Maulbronn
The best-preserved medieval Cistercian monastery north of the Alps, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with fine Romanesque to Gothic architecture and a cloister fountain house.
Maulbronn Monastery lies about 35 km northwest of Stuttgart. It was founded in 1147 by Cistercian monks. The church, cloister, fountain house, refectory and farm buildings within its walls are fully preserved, showing the transition from Romanesque to Gothic. It was inscribed as a World Heritage Site in 1993. After the Reformation, it became a Protestant seminary. The poets Hölderlin and Hermann Hesse both studied here, and Hesse's novel “Unterm Rad” (Beneath the Wheel) is set at the monastery. Admission is about €9, and an audio guide is available. Nearby, you can walk trails past the monks' fishponds and water-management system. From Stuttgart, it's about a 40-minute drive, or take the train to Mühlacker and then a bus.
Opening hours
Mar–Oct daily 09:00–17:30; Nov–Feb Tue–Sun 10:00–17:00
Nearby sights
- Solitude Palace
- Porsche Museum
- Ludwigsburg Palace & Blühendes Barock
- Höhenpark Killesberg & Killesberg Tower
- Weissenhof Estate
- Linden Museum
- Stuttgart City Library
- Kunstmuseum Stuttgart