Kloster Kaufbeuren

The Crescentiakloster stands in Kaufbeuren, a town in Swabia, Bavaria. It is a convent of the Franciscan Observant Tertiaries, a branch of the Franciscan order. The buildings sit on a slope above the town centre, with the church entrance reached by a short climb. A small park now occupies the former monastery garden on the hillside opposite the church door. The convent is famous for Maria Crescentia Höss, who lived here from 1703 until her death in 1744. In 1741 the sisters chose her unanimously as their superior, and she led the community until her final illness. The church was consecrated in 1472, though earlier records speak of a much older sanctuary destroyed by fire. After the monastery closed in 1803 during the secularisation of Bavaria, the German Knights took over the site for three years before the nuns returned in 1831. Visitors enter through a gateway into a quiet courtyard surrounded by the convent wings. The church contains simple furnishings and a modest high altar. Beyond the church door, the Klosterberggarten offers a peaceful garden of native and exotic plants laid out with paths and benches. At the top of the slope the garden opens to wide views over Kaufbeuren’s rooftops and the surrounding countryside.