Old walls, mighty churches and baroque splendid buildings - there are many monasteries in Germany worth seeing.
In the Middle Ages they were places of tranquility, centers of faith and power.
Today they are also museums, venues for events and destinations for those seeking peace and quiet.
The history of Corvey in North Rhine-Westphalia began with a Benedictine monastery dating from 822.
Only the Carolingian Westwerk, the facade of the church facing west, remains from this period.
During the 30-Years War the monastery was heavily devastated and then rebuilt as a baroque residence in 1671.
Today the ducal family of Ratibor lives here.
The Protestant Augustinian Monastery in Erfurt also looks back on a long history.
It is over 700 years old. Over time, the buildings of the monastery were demolished, rebuilt, converted, and renovated.
Nevertheless, you can still visit the historic walls and rooms where monks once prayed, high school students studied, and orphans lived.
In the time from 1505 to 1511 Martin Luther was also a monk here.
The St. Marienthal Monastery is a baroque Cistercian abbey in Saxony's Upper Lusatia near Görlitz.
It is the oldest women's monastery of the order in Germany, which has existed continuously since its foundation.
The nuns always invite visitors and pilgrims to silence and contemplation in the monastery church,
but also to guided tours, concerts and monastery markets.
Between Worms and Darmstadt, the Lorsch Monastery is located, an important center of power in the Middle Ages.
Only two buildings of the Benedictine abbey remain.
The former monastery church was built more than 1000 years ago.
Opposite it is the King's Hall from the 9th century.
The Cistercian monastery of Maulbronn, 100 kilometers from Lorsch Monastery,
is also included on the World Heritage List and was an important cultural and economic center in the Middle Ages.
Most of the buildings, which were built between the 12th and 16th centuries, are still well preserved today.
Further south is the former Cistercian abbey Heiligkreuztal in Upper Swabia.
It was founded in 1227.
Many cultural treasures are worth a visit, including great works of art from the Middle Ages.
The island of Reichenau on Lake Constance.
A Benedictine abbey was founded here in the 8th century.
Monks brought agriculture to the island. Reichenau is still known today for its vegetable cultivation.
Of the monastery complex, only the churches remain today.
In 1930, the Salesians of Don Bosco acquired the Benediktbeuern monastery in Upper Bavaria
to establish a training center for the next generation of monks, a youth hostel, and a youth recreation center.
The former Benedictine monastery was founded in 725 and rebuilt in the 17th and 18th centuries in a Baroque style.
At an altitude of 870 meters in the Ammergau Alps you will find the Benedictine monastery Ettal.
Founded in 1330, with its mighty basilica. Today more than 30 monks live here.
There is also a boarding school, a grammar school and various monastery businesses.
Finally, the Andechs Monastery near Munich.
It is perched on the "Holy Mountain", on the eastern shore of the Ammersee lake.
The Benedictine abbey is a popular destination for excursions, as there is a brewery and a monastery tavern here.