Prämonstratenserinnenstift Jestetten (Berg Tabor)

The former Premonstratensian convent of Berg Tabor stands on the Schloss Jestetten site in the Klettgau valley, a short distance from the Rhine. Built in the 18th century for nuns of the order, it became a place of quiet worship until the Napoleonic era. The castle itself had belonged to the Schwarzenberg family since 1687, giving the estate its noble setting among rolling vineyards and orchards. The story of Berg Tabor is shaped by two remarkable priests. Josef Helg, a Swiss founder, secured papal permission in 1774 to open the women’s monastery, yet political interference soon ended his work. Decades later Klemens Maria Hofbauer arrived with Redemptorist companions, only to find the buildings ruinous and the debts overwhelming. Despite support from Bishop von Wessenberg, local hostility grew until the community was forced to leave in 1805. Visitors today enter a quiet courtyard where a memorial tablet recalls Hofbauer’s brief stay. Inside, the former chapel still holds the original statue of the Virgin that once watched over the nuns’ devotions. The rest of the building now serves as a modern care home, its corridors lined with photographs of the valley’s past. From the windows there are views across the orchards towards the distant Black Forest, a peaceful scene that belies the turbulent history once enacted within these walls.