Exterior facilities Eberbach Monastery Culture in the midst of nature

Eberbach Monastery, founded in the middle of the 12th century by monks of the Cistercian Order, is one of the most important complete works of art in Hesse. In addition to the impressive buildings from the Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque periods, nothing remains today of the original open space design.

Against this background, the Eberbach Monastery Foundation launched a competition in 2004 to redesign the almost 8 hectares of open space. Proposed solutions were to "(...) convey to the visitor the simple clarity of the Cistercian world view, emphasize the special nature of the building ensemble, and at the same time meet the demands of contemporary uses." Also due to the lack of archival documents, the winning design concept by BERNARD UND SATTLER was based on a fundamental examination of the essence of the original Cistercian world of thought.

Based on the characteristic Cistercian separation between monks and lay brothers, an initial division of the monastery grounds into two areas was made: The "core" in the immediate vicinity of the monastery buildings seeks to step back behind the exceptionality of the buildings with a simple design language. The "ring" encloses this area, incorporating "contemporary uses" (parking, access, etc.) as well as a series of different gardens.

The design principles underlying the design were taken, among other things, from the Cistercian building program, which had the "perfect monastery" as its goal and, among other things, excluded any kind of "ornamentation". Other principles of the Cistercians such as "uniformity", "simplicity", "modesty", "self-evidence", motifs from the Middle Ages ("seclusion", "hortus conclusus") as well as characteristics of the Romanesque ("Gedrungenheit", "massiveness") served as an additional basis for the design.

For the design of the outdoor facilities, these principles led to a restriction to essential elements and functions, which is reflected in the uniformity of building elements and clear, strict structuring of the floor plans. This was done in order to strengthen the overall unity ("unitas") of Eberbach Monastery.

Award: Exemplary Buildings in the State of Hesse 2011