Kloster Thalbach

A 15th-century Dominican convent stands beside the Thalbach stream in Bregenz, Vorarlberg. It began in 1436 as a Poor Clare house and later housed Franciscan nuns until Joseph II closed their monastery in 1782. The complex was rebuilt between 1674 and 1677 by Michael Kuen and Michael Thumb into a symmetrical early-baroque plan modelled on the Escorial. The church of St Antonius shelters a fourteenth-century Madonna and Child donated in 1592 by Mehrerau Abbey. After the Dominicans arrived in 1796 the site became part of their Austrian Union.

The convent’s architecture and art mark important moments in regional history. Giovanni Domenico Prato restored the church in 1609–10, giving it its present shape. In 1983 Bishop Bruno Wechner of Feldkirch approved the transfer to the ecclesial family ‘Das Werk’ after the outgoing prioress secured her sisters’ agreement in a single day. The ensemble remains protected as a listed monument, preserving its early-baroque layout and medieval devotional image.

Inside, visitors follow a rectangular cloister lined with plain arcades that lead to the church. The oversized Madonna in the high altar shows the soft folds of 14th-century Swabian sculpture. Beyond the sacristy door the former monastic garden slopes down to the Thalbach, where the sound of water mixes with the scent of lime trees planted in the 17th century. The restrained baroque interiors contrast with the lively medieval figure above the altar, offering a quiet space for reflection beside the stream.