Gottstat Monastery is a former

Premonstratensian The Order of Canons Regular of Prémontré (), also known as the Premonstratensians, the Norbertines and, in Britain and Ireland, as the White Canons (from the colour of their habit), is a religious order of canons regular of the Catholic Church ...

monastery A monastery is a building or complex of buildings comprising the domestic quarters and workplaces of monastics, monks or nuns, whether living in communities or alone ( hermits). A monastery generally includes a place reserved for prayer whic ...

in the municipality of

Orpund Orpund is a municipality in the Biel/Bienne administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Orpund is first mentioned in 1255 as ''Orpunt''. The municipality was formerly known by its unknown name ''er Orpondes'', ho ...

in the

Canton of Bern The canton of Bern or Berne (german: Kanton Bern; rm, Chantun Berna; french: canton de Berne; it, Canton Berna) is one of the 26 cantons forming the Swiss Confederation. Its capital city, Bern, is also the ''de facto'' capital of Switzerland. ...

, Switzerland.

Establishment

2012-05-26-Seeland (Foto Dietrich Michael Weidmann) 172

It was established in 1255 by Count Rudolf I von

Neuchâtel Neuchâtel (, , ; german: Neuenburg) is the capital of the Swiss canton of Neuchâtel, situated on the shoreline of Lake Neuchâtel. Since the fusion in 2021 of the municipalities of Neuchâtel, Corcelles-Cormondrèche, Peseux, and Valangin, ...

-Nidau. A previous attempt to establish a monastery on the site in 1247 there had been unsuccessful. The monastery church was built in 1300Gottstatt parish
accessed 16 August 2013 and was the burial church for the Counts of Neuchâtel-Nidau. After their line became extinct in 1375, the monastery was inherited by the Counts of Kyburg-Burgdorf until it was acquired by Bern in 1388. Documents from 1295, 1309 and 1314 indicate that the monastery was a local pilgrimage site and expanded several times. A monastery school was in operation from the beginning. During the

Gugler The Guglers (also Güglers) were a body of mostly English and French knights who as mercenaries invaded Alsace and the Swiss plateau under the leadership of Enguerrand VII de Coucy during the Gugler War of 1375. Origin of the term The term Gu ...

War of 1375 the monastery was attacked and heavily damaged by the Gugler knights. Shortly thereafter it was rebuilt. The last construction project on the monastery occurred during the tenure of the Abbot Konrad Meyer (1504–14). While the monastery owned a number of

vineyard A vineyard (; also ) is a plantation of grape-bearing vines, grown mainly for winemaking, but also raisins, table grapes and non-alcoholic grape juice. The science, practice and study of vineyard production is known as viticulture. Vine ...

s, houses and farms along with rights in a number of

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one or ...

es, politically it was fairly weak. None of the 22 known abbots was a nobleman.

Reformation

The monastery was closed in 1528 as part of the

Reformation The Reformation (alternatively named the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation) was a major movement within Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the Catholic Church and i ...

. From 1528 until 1798, the monastery building served as the seat of the

bailiwick A bailiwick () is usually the area of jurisdiction of a bailiff, and once also applied to territories in which a privately appointed bailiff exercised the sheriff's functions under a royal or imperial writ. The bailiwick is probably modelled on t ...

and low court of Gottstatt. In 1803 the whole monastery building and compound was sold into private ownership. The

Reformed Church Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

began buying back the monastery, piece by piece, in 1965. Today it is the

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activitie ...

for the Orpund

Teaching

Georg Simon Ohm Georg Simon Ohm (, ; 16 March 1789 – 6 July 1854) was a German physicist and mathematician. As a school teacher, Ohm began his research with the new electrochemical cell, invented by Italian scientist Alessandro Volta. Using equipment of his ...

was a teacher there for some time.

Literature

* Doris Amacher und Bethi Blaser: Schweizerische Kunstführer GSK, Band 773: ''Die reformierte Kirche und das ehemalige Prämonstratenserkloster Gottstatt'', Bern 2005, *

Andreas Moser Andreas Moser (29 November 1859 – 7 October 1925) was a German musician, music pedagogue and musicologist. Early life and education Born in Zemun, Syrmia, Austrian Empire, Moser was the son of a winegrower and smoker from Upper Austria. As ...

: ''Die Kunstdenkmäler des Kantons Bern Land III, Der Amtsbezirk Nidau 2. Teil,'' Herausgegeben von der Schweizerischen Gesellschaft für Kunstgeschichte GSK, Bern 2005: ''Seiten 139-173 Orpund / Gottstatt'', * Helvetia Sacra ABTEILUNG IV: Die Orden mit Augustinerregel, Band 3: ''Die Prämonstratenser und Prämonstratenserinnen in der Schweiz'', bearbeitet von mehreren Autoren, redigiert von Bernard Andenmatten und Brigitte Degler-Spengler, Basel 2002. ''S. 383–410''. Autoren: Kathrin Utz Tremp, Georg Modestin. www.helvetiasacra.ch

References

External links

*
Infos on the closter: Homepage reformed Church community, Orpund

{{Authority control Buildings and structures in the canton of Bern