Kappel Abbey

Kappel Abbey is a former Cistercian monks monastery located in Kappel am Albis in the Swiss canton of Zurich.

Kappel Abbey is first mentioned in 1185 by Bishop Hermann II of Constance. The abbey was founded by the Freiherr of Eschenbach. The name was derived from a chapel in which, according to a foundation legend, hermits used to live. In 1211, Pope Innocent III gave the monastery the Privilegium commune Cisterciense. Between the 13th to 15th Centuries the Abbey received several Imperial and Royal privileges.

On the site of the original church (of which parts are preserved in the present structure), a new church was started in about 1255. This early gothic building wouldn't be completed until the early 14th Century. The oldest part of the monastery is the so-called core of the administration buildings, which were probably built in 1209/10 as a hospital (later the residence of the abbot and the prior).

The spiritual and economic golden-age lasted until the middle of the 14th Century. Through donations from the landed gentry (Hallwyl, Hünenberg Bonstetten, Hinwil, Baldegg, Uerzlikon, Gessler and Habsburg-Laufenburg families), purchase and exchange the Abbey had numerous, widely scattered properties. With the help of a number of lay brothers, the Abbey ran a number of businesses. These included a vineyard on Lake Zurich and granges in Wollishofen and Zug. In the 15th Century the Abbey lost the use of most of these distant businesses, they were limited to products produced at the Abbey and a local dairy.

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