Bamberg - Carmelite Monastery

According to tradition, the first Bishop of Bamberg, Eberhard I of Bamberg, founded a hospital for the sick and poor on the hill opposite Bamberg Cathedral in 1030 and dedicated it to Saint Theodore.

On the site of this hospital, Bishop Eberhard II of Bamberg built the Convent of Our Lady and St Theodore in 1157 with the help of the Palatine Countess Gertrude, widow of the Palatine Hermann von Höchstadt-Stahleck and sister of King Conrad III. After her husband's death in 1157, Gertrude designated her husband's estate for the construction of the monastery of St. Theodore in Bamberg. The women of St. Theodore's convent, the so-called Theodore women, lived first according to the constitutions of the Cistercian nuns and later according to the constitutions of the Benedictine nuns.

The women's monastery was sacked in 1525 during the Peasants' War and dissolved after the Second Margrave's War in 1554, leaving the monastery building empty.

The original Carmelite monastery in Bamberg was founded in the 13th century on the grounds of the parish of St. Martin in the city centre. In 1589 the premises of the original monastery were needed for a diocesan seminary and the Carmelites had to move out. In 1589 they were replaced by an empty monastery building on the Kaulberg in Bamberg.

The monastery was famous for its library, for which the Carmelites built a separate wing in 1593, which they rebuilt in 1675.

The Carmelites commissioned Leonhard Dientzenhofer to further rebuild the monastery and church. The foundation stone was laid on 4 May 1692. The south, east and north wings of the monastery were added, preserving the late Romanesque cloister. Then the Baroqueisation of the monastery church began. The old church was partially demolished and the liturgical orientation of the church was turned 180 degrees. The work was completed in 1706 and the church was consecrated on 18 April 1706.

In 1739-1740 Justus Heinrich Dietzenhofer built a new west wing and rebuilt the monastery buildings according to the plans of the architect Balthasar Neumann.

The towers were restored in 1797. The ceiling painting in the library by Johann Anwander was painted around 1755.

The Carmelite monastery was dissolved in 1803 as part of secularisation. The Bavarian military administration had all the columns of the west wing torn out and replaced by a wall with windows. The property was sold at auction and the church furnishings went to other churches. The buildings were used as a military hospital, school and barracks, among other things.

In 1902, the Carmelites from Straubing acquired the monastery complex. From 1 September 1918 until 1989, the Carmelites took care of the Marianum Seminary for boys. From 1946 to 2018 the Carmelites ran the Theresianum (Bamberg), a late vocational institution with a humanist grammar school, college and seminary.

Monastery

The cloister, 25 metres by 35 metres, is characterised by Romanesque arcades of golden-brown ironstone sandstone, column bases with corner spurs, Romanesque chalice-shaped capitals and sculpture capitals in a cross between Romanesque and Gothic styles. The Romanesque architectural style was probably used deliberately at the time to give the monastery a respectable appearance. The complex is one of the best preserved monasteries of the late Romanesque or early Gothic period.

Due to lack of space, it was probably necessary to enclose the eastern wing of the monastery around 1466 to create a monastic living space - more economically than in the construction of the new building. This and the later vaulting were the first major interventions in the existing rows of arcades. The statics of the upper floors had to be secured by masonry columns.

After the dissolution of the monastery and the conversion of the buildings into barracks, the west wing was stripped of its arcades and walled in with large blind vaults.

Due to new fire regulations, the monastery had to be reconstructed around 1980. The remaining blind arches were removed and new columns with rough and unfinished capitals were added, thus restoring the enclosed unity of the monastery. It was enriched with several old sculptural capitals that were permanently on loan from the Bavarian National Museum.

Parts of these original columns and capitals were used in the construction of the romantic garden ruins in the garden of the banker Keilholz, others ended up in private ownership and in the Bavarian National Museum in Munich.

Church

The Romanesque parts of the old church have been preserved in the underground of the church. The only visible remnant is the so-called lion portal on the west side of the present church. Two towers were planned, but only the one that exists today was completely built. Bishop Hermann II of Bamberg (reigned from 1170 to 1177) found his final resting place in the church.

During the Baroque Revival of 1692-1706, carried out by Leonhard Dientzenhofer, the church was fundamentally changed. The high altar, which had previously been located in the east, was moved to the west of the church. The lion portal (Löwenportal) lost its function as the main entrance and was bricked up. The east facade, which is now the entrance side of the church, was artistically decorated by Leonhard Gollwitzer (also Goldwitzer). Above the main entrance is a statue of Mary with Child and Scapular, based on a painting of Mary Help of Christians by Lucas Cranach. In the niches on the façade there are Carmelite saints. The prophet Elijah, the model of the Order from the Old Testament, was chosen as the finial of the shield.

After the secularisation of the monastery and the removal of the church furnishings, the Carmelite Order of Straubing managed to regain the monastery buildings and the church 100 years later. The church was given a neo-Baroque interior by the monastery's own cabinetmaker, Brother Alois Ehrlich. With the exception of the altar of the Holy Family and the pulpit, the interior furnishings of the church date from after 1902. The altar and pulpit, which come from the original inventory of this church, could be reacquired and installed.

In 1808, the Bavarian builder Ferdinand Freiherr von Hohenhausen had the church tower demolished and the Altenburger Straße (now the square in front of the Zur Matern restaurant) filled in with rubble.

Around 1990, according to a plan from the beginning of the Carmelite monastery's second heyday, a separate burial ground was established in the area under the church. The crypts in the Bamberg cemetery were abandoned and the remains of those buried in them were transferred to a common grave in this crypt.

In 1902 the monastery complex was acquired by the Carmelites from Straubing. From 1 September 1918 until 1989 the Carmelites took care of the Marianum Seminary for boys. From 1946 to 2018 the Carmelites ran the Theresianum (Bamberg), a late vocational institution with a humanist grammar school, college and seminary.

After the Second World War, the Carmelites founded a late vocational institution with a humanist grammar school, college and seminary in the monastery. They wanted to help war veterans, who wanted to become priests, to obtain university qualifications. This led to the creation of the Late Vocational Theresian College, which today consists of three schools and a smaller dormitory. Young women and men, mostly with professional experience, attend the Teresian Late Vocational College, the Teresian College or the Archbishop's Evening College.

In recent years, rooms for internal students have been set up in the attic of the south wing of the monastery. In contrast, the building by the staircase to the Teresian House (also called the brewery building), which has served as a dormitory since 1976, is used for other purposes.

In 1991, the Marianum Boys' Seminary was converted into an educational house. For economic reasons, the provincial administration abandoned this project at the end of 2008. Two floors of the former Marianum, the west wing of the monastery, were newly reserved for hotel purposes and the "Arkadenhotel im Kloster" was created, but is not run by the monastery.

The monastery church underwent extensive interior renovation in 1981/82. At that time, the altar area was redesigned with great sensitivity to the church space. The overall design with the altar island, altar and ambo came from Friedrich Koller. At the same time, the tomb for deceased members of the order was rebuilt in the lower church. The church is currently being renovated again, from the roof to the lower part of the church, including the organ.