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Atmosphere

Irsee Monastery: Days of Light

He who leaves the Wertach Valley, North of the old Free City of Kaufbeuren and drives through a forest hollow up one of the area's many moraine deposits from the ice age, will suddenly come to the view of a grandiose Baroque assemble: Irsee Monastery.

It is a mighty and imposing building complex, a barricading bastion. This impression however, soon dissipates, and the eyes looks up upon the filigree-touched towers which break through the horizon over the Baroque monastery church like intricate silhouettes. The red roofs of the former 18th century monastery premises dominate a harmoniously assembled construction, which is divided into sections by wide Resalite.

After this first impression, one will note the symmetry of the numerous windows, which run through the façade of three storeys of the building. Only up close does one recognize that some of the windows are "fake", painted on the walls to look like windows, in order to maintain symmetry. Trompe l'oeuil - the principal of Baroque architecture and painting, a product of illusion or an effect of mystic cipher relationships? A closed inner courtyard is formed within the 3-story building complex According to archaic symbolism, the heavenly and earthly meet at the numbers 3 and 4. Irsee reflects a burning mirror of cosmic order. The visitor who enters through the West portal unconsciously moves within a microcosm, where heavenly and earthly powers unite themselves in close configuration. Is it possible that one cannot sense it? Are there places where the formative powers of the human spirit are particularly glad to join together, because they are able to more readily gain shape there?

The monastery was secularized in 1803, and the Swabian Educational Centre [Schwäbisches Bildungszentrum] was established by the regional parliament of Swabia, under the culturally conscious and dedicated President Dr. Georg Simnacher between 1974 and 1981. Today entering the Swabian Educational Centre, within the walls of the former Benedictine Irsee Monastery, one can almost believe that the "genius loci" also exists here in the forest valley of East Allgäu.
The main focus of life for the Irsee monks was scientific knowledge and education, together with liturgical prayer and wise management of affairs. In the 18th century foremost, the natural sciences, along with philosophy and music found renowned representatives among the members of Monastery Irsee. Names such as Ulrich Weiß, Candidus Wehrle, Ulrich Peutinger, Eugen Dobler and Meinrad Spieß stand out in the community of the fathers.

It is hardly surprising that after 200 years this spirit returns once again. After years of disregard, the magnificent ambience has again found a home, of course in modern dimensions. In the 18th century an utmost 25 monks lived in the monastery, whereas the Swabian Educational Center now houses approx. 20.000 overnight guests per year: 13 spacious, modernly equipped conference rooms - from festive hall to intimate meeting rooms, approx. 100 beds, and a well staffed kitchen for the restaurant turn every congress into a festive experience. The atmosphere of casual serenity and relaxed concentration is appreciated equally by conference organisers, their lecturers as well as participants.

One has to be fascinated and captured by the delicate colours and graceful stucco ornaments in the light flooded staircases and corridors and the lovingly restored functional rooms, such as the library chamber, reception room, and room of chapters. Here the guest is surrounded by ample air to breathe and space to move about. The entrance stairway is a splendid introduction to the buildings with its overwhelming Baroque fixtures. These are jewels of artistry by the Wessobrunner master Franz Schmutzer, created between 1727 and 1729. The ceiling fresco was painted by Franz Anton Erler between 1730 and 1735.

Famous politicians, businessmen and scholars have been guests since the opening of the Swabian Educational Centre. Two major organisers use this jewel particularly intensively among Bavarian educational centres: The Swabian Academy, created by the District of Swabia together with the Swabian Adult Educational Centres and the Educational Institution of the Union of Bavarian Districts.

The Swabian Academy focuses on adult education, the emphasis being anthropology and cultural history, as well as art and music, whereas the Educational Center for Further- and Continuing Education dedicates itself to the fields of social and psychiatric care of patients in Bavaria.

Lastly, Irsee also is part of reparation. In the mental care facility of Kaufbeuren, of which the Irsee institution was formerly a branch, the tyrants and cohorts of the murderous Euthanasia during the Nazi regime found their victims. These were surely the darkest hours of the former monastery, whose history also was affected by the chaos and catastrophes of the peasant wars, the 30 years war and secularisation.

One may reflect on this when, for example, sitting in the white arched nave of the old monastery church and letting one's eye roam from the flaming organ screen by Balthasar Freiwiß over the famous boat-shape pulpit, to the dark church paintings of Father Magnus Remy and the bejewelled relics of Christian martyrs on the altars. What can Christian-occidental education do against murderous brutality and destruction, against the repeated horrors of history? It can at least create a new beginning and an awakening towards humanity. The culture of present Irsee shows the possibilities of man at his highest and most beautiful completion..

Dr. Rainer Jehl
1984 - 2009 Director of the Swabian Academy

 

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