Maulbronn Abbey
| Imperial Monastery of Maulbronn | ||||||||||
| Reichskloster Maulbronn | ||||||||||
| Imperial Abbey of the Holy Roman Empire | ||||||||||
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 Layout of the Maulbronn Monastery
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| Capital | Maulbronn Abbey | |||||||||
| Government | Theocracy | |||||||||
| Historical era | Middle Ages | |||||||||
| • | Founded as Imperial abbey | 1147 | ||||||||
| • | Placed under Imperial protection by Barbarossa |
1156 |
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| • | Seized by Württemberg | 1504 | ||||||||
| • | Monastery alternates between Protestantism and Cistercians |
1534–1651 |
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Peace of Westphalia settles monastery to Protestantism |
1648 |
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| • | Secularised to Württemberg | 1806 | ||||||||
| • | Seminary merged with that of Bebenhausen |
1818 |
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| Today part of |
 Germany
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Maulbronn Monastery (German: Kloster Maulbronn) is a former Roman Catholic Cistercian Abbey and Protestant seminary located at Maulbronn in the German state of Baden-Württemberg. The 850 year old, mostly Romanesque monastery complex, one of the best preserved examples of its kind in Europe, is one of the very first buildings in Germany to use the Gothic style. In 1993, the abbey was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
The complex, surrounded by turreted walls and a tower gate, today houses the Maulbronn town hall and other administrative offices, a police station, and several restaurants. The monastery itself contains an Evangelical seminary in the Württemberg tradition.
The monastery was founded in 1147 by 12 Cistercian monks from Alsace under the auspices of the first Cistercian pope, Eugenius III. The main church, built in a style transitional from Romanesque to Gothic, was consecrated in 1178 by Arnold, Bishop of Speyer. A number of other buildings — infirmary, refectory, cellar, auditorium, porch, south cloister, hall, another refectory, forge, inn, cooperage, mill, and chapel — followed in the course of the 13th century. The west, east and north cloisters date back to the 14th century, as do most fortifications and the fountain house or lavatorium.
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