The monastery Wettingen - Mehrerau is located in Bregenz on Lake Constance. Originally it was a Benedictine monastery and was founded in 1097 by Count Ulrich X of Bregenz. He brought monks from Petershausen near Constance. The monastery of St. Peter in der Au experienced some flourishing times, but was dissolved by the Bavarian interim government in 1806.
The church and church tower were demolished and the stones used for the construction of the Lindau harbour.
The Cistercian monks expelled from Wettingen, Switzerland, bought the abandoned Benedictine monastery and moved there with their motto.
Non mergor – I'm not going down
The monastery coat of arms
Since the original church was demolished, a modern new building now stands here.
The simple choir of the monks
In the choir is this winged altar with representations of saints, such as St. Sebastian and St. Roch.
This portrait of Anna Selbdritt is located in a side chapel. The painting seems to have been cut out of a larger picture.
As in all Cistercian monasteries, St. Mary is venerated (altar in the chapel at the entrance of the church).
The Collegium Bernardi belongs to the monastery. It was founded in 1854 by the Cistercian abbey Wettingen-Mehrerau. The private grammar school is run as a boarding school, a half boarding school and as a student hostel (extra-curricular supervision for graduates of the public schools HTL, HAK or HAS in Bregenz). We visited the chapel of the college.
Entrance to the chapel
The classicistic interior ...
...with a small organ loft
A monastery cellar also belongs to the monastery. There we had an excellent and inexpensive lunch.
Photos: G. and V. Eichinger April 2011
