Ruth Paget: Visiting Ettal Monastery on Southern Germany's Alpenstrasse with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Ettal Monastery on Southern Germany's with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Driving along Southern Germany’s Alpenstra§e (Alps Road) after a ride to Neuchwanstein Castle (Ludwig II’s mountain-perched castle), my husband and I admired the craggy, snow-covered Alps and stopped to visit Ettal Monastery.

The Monastery’s visitor’s guide says that Ettal is located on a connecting road between Augsburg, Germany and Italy, but is still considered off the beaten track. Ettal Monastery’s white walls encompass a huge compound that epitomizes the standards of self-sufficiency laid down by Saint Benedict of Nursia (died 547). Saint Benedict’s “Rule” defines monasticism and cloistered life in the Western world.

Ettal Monastery’s white walls and ochre trim around the windows and moldings give the grounds an ethereal, orderly feel with the snow-covered Alps as a backdrop. There are 50 to 60 monks at any one time at the monastery, who run a private high school with boarding school (approximately 380 pupils) according to the visitor’s guide. The monks also run a brewery, a liqueur distillery, a hotel, and a publishing house.

The monks do the upkeep on buildings that were founded in 1330 by Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian. At the time that he founded Ettal Monastery, Ludwig also gave a Madonna and Child statue that he had brought back from Italy to the church as well. This statue has mad St. Marien Church at Ettal Monastery a pilgrimage site.

When the Monastery was originally set up, knights and their wives were supposed to live there and form a sort of Teutonic Order. Their order did not survive, but the building of their living quarters affected the form and design of Ettal Monastery. A fire in 1744 caused the façade and interior decorations to be redone in the South German Baroque Style according to the Monastery’s visitor’s guide.

1700 was the zenith of the South German Baroque Style that was practiced at Ettal Monastery. Henrico Zucalli (1642 – 1742) was the first Baroque architect, who created the foundation for the later architects and artists. After Zucalli, the master builder Joseph Schmuzer (1683 – 1752) from the Wessobrunn and Rottenbuch Monasteries used Zucalli’s plans to build an exuberant interior for St. Marien Church that belies the elegant yet simple exterior.

Artists from the Wessobrunn School did the stucco work for Ettal Monastery and other churches in the area. Many of the frescoes and the dome were painted by Jakob Zeiller (1708 – 1783). Martin Knoller (1725 – 1804) painted the frescoes in the choir, high altar, and three other altars. Both artists came from the Tyrol region of Southern Germany. The organ (1763) is the work of Johann Georg Hoerthrich from Swabia.

Leaving the chapel and inhaling the crisp, Alpine air made me feel as if I had visited heaven.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Eating Soup with Chopsticks

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