- Source: Ilmbach Charterhouse
Ilmbach Charterhouse, also Mariengarten Charterhouse (German: Kloster or Kartause Ilmbach; Kartause Mariengarten), is a former Carthusian monastery, or charterhouse, in Prichsenstadt in Bavaria, Germany.
History
The monastery, dedicated to Our Lady, was founded in 1453 by the knight Balthasar Fere vom Berge and his wife Magdalena von Vestenberg. It was burnt down in 1525 during the Peasants' War but was rebuilt and reoccupied within two years with the help of the Bishop of Würzburg.
It was dissolved in 1803 in the secularisation of Bavaria.
The property was purchased by Baron Friedel, who installed a cheese factory and a sugar factory in the premises. In 1836 there were still remains of the monastery church, but these have disappeared. On the site of the charterhouse a hunting lodge was later constructed.
The only structural survival is the main entrance gateway, built of sandstone in the 17th century. At the dissolution a local farmer moved it to his farm in Gräfenneuses in Geiselwind near Bamberg, where it still stands.
References
Further reading
Koller, Michael (ed.): Kartäuser in Franken. In: Brückner, Wolfgang; Lenssen, Jürgen (ed.): Kirche, Kunst und Kultur in Franken. Band 5. Würzburg 1996
Hutzler, Georg: Die Kartäuser und ihr Kloster Ilmbach im Steigerwald. Scheinfeld 1980
Soder v. Güldenstubbe, Erik: Ilmbach, in: Monasticon Cartusiense, ed. Gerhard Schlegel, James Hogg, Band 2, Salzburg 2004, pp. 413–419
