Kloster Adelberg, Adelberg

Adelberg Monastery was a Premonstratensian monastery built in 1178 in Adelberg near Göppingen in Baden-Württemberg. For 300 years a convent of canons and a convent of canonesses existed side by side; in 1476 the convent ladies had to move to Lauffen am Neckar.

In its early phase, the monastery of the reform order was intensively supported by the Staufers, who initially also provided the bailiffs. Finally, from 1372, the convent came under Württemberg rule, which brought the abbey an economic heyday in the 15th century and made Adelberg one of the richest monasteries of the old duchy.

The monastery was severely damaged during the German Peasants' War. The Reformation took place during the reconstruction period. After its final introduction, Adelberg was the seat of a Protestant monastery school from 1565 to 1629/1630. Its most famous student was Johannes Kepler. Until 1810 it was the seat of a prelature of the Württemberg regional church. During this time, outstanding Protestant theologians held office there as abbots and prelates, including Jakob Andreae, Johann Jakob Heinlin, Lucas Osiander the Elder, Johann Wolfgang Jäger and Balthasar Sprenger.

Although the complex with its preserved walls can still be easily identified, only a few buildings from the monastic period have been preserved; the monastery church was demolished after the Reformation. The Ulrich Chapel with its altar from the workshop of Nikolaus Weckmann and the accompanying panel paintings by Bartholomäus Zeitblom stands out artistically from what has been preserved.