Herrenalb Abbey

Herrenalb Abbey stands in the northern Black Forest, near the spa town of Bad Herrenalb. Founded around 1147 or 1148 by Count Berthold of Eberstein, it was settled by monks from Neubourg Abbey in Alsace. The abbey once owned scattered estates across the Alb valley and beyond, though it never grew particularly wealthy. Its lands passed between the Margraves of Baden and the Counts of Württemberg over the centuries. The abbey was devastated in the German Peasants’ War of 1525 and closed after the Reformation in 1536. The abbey’s history includes brief periods of independence as an Imperial abbey, though this status was lost in 1497. A school operated in the buildings from 1556 until 1595. Some original structures remain, including what appear to be the abbot’s lodgings and the infirmary, alongside ruins of the cloisters. The Romanesque tithe barn and parts of the abbey church survive, including the entrance porch and the Gothic choir, now used as a Lutheran church. Visitors find traces of the medieval monastery set among the modern town. The abbot’s lodgings and infirmary still stand, along with the ruins of the cloisters. The Romanesque tithe barn and the remains of the abbey church, including the entrance porch and Gothic choir, are open to view. A sculpted panel of the Crucifixion, once part of the abbey, now hangs in Schloss Eberstein in the Murg valley. The Lutheran church in the former choir contains memorials to the abbey’s past.