Peak and secularisation

The revival at the end of the 17th century at first continues impressively on the Holy Mountain. The grand 300th anniversary of the founding outshines the monastery’s history at this time.

At first, the 18th century is marked by another high point of monastic life on the Holy Mountain.

In 1715, Johann Michael Dietrich from Tölz builds a new organ with 28 stops for the Pilgrimage Church. The organ case stands to this day. The monastery’s economy benefits from the boom in these years as well. A beer cellar is dug into the mountain in 1730, below what will later be the pharmacy.

Even the monastery cannot withstand the Enlightenment and the French Revolution.

View into the vault of the Pilgrimage Church
Alte Bibliothek
Detail in the Fürstensaal
View of the Andechs ceiling fresco of saints
Historic books in the Nikolaussaal

The 300-year anniversary of the founding

From 1751 to 1755, Abbot Bernhard Schütz (1746-1759) has the Pilgrimage Church and parts of the monastery redesigned in the in preparation for the 300-year anniversary of the founding, bringing renowned artists to Andechs for this project.

In 1755, the 300-year anniversary of the monastery’s founding is celebrated with a week-long festival in September. Father Gregor Schreyer, monk of Andechs, composes eight masses for the occasion and a major theological disputation is held, among other things. Under Abbot Meinhard Moosmüller (1759-1767), the two-storey monastery pharmacy is constructed between 1763 and 1767 on the south-east side of the Fronhof, with frescoes by Joseph Matthias Ott (1735-1791) showing various biblical scenes on the topic of healing.

Secularisation in 1803

Abbot Gregor Rauch (1791-1803) finally has to experience the dissolution of the monastery. As a consequence of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution, all monasteries in Bavaria are dissolved by Reich law in 1803. The monastery buildings are sold in 1804. The Pilgrimage Church and the pharmacy fall to the state.

Initially the monks were still permitted to live in the monastery in Andechs. Nevertheless the community soon fell apart because monastery life of any kind was prohibited. Younger monks in particular found new roles for themselves in worldly pastoral care or schooling. Finally, the pharmacy is dissolved in 1812.

Andechs Monastery Emblem

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