Ritterhaus Bubikon, Knights Hospitaller commandry in Bubikon, Switzerland
Ritterhaus Bubikon is a Knights Hospitaller commandry with several stone buildings that include a commander's house, rectory, a chapel, and service structures. The site sits near Zurich and preserves the layout of this medieval religious community.
The commandry was founded between 1191 and 1198, when Diethelm V von Toggenburg and Vogt Rudolf von Rapperswil granted the Knights Hospitaller land and the church of Bubikon to settle an inheritance dispute over the Alt-Rapperswil estates. A founder image in the chapel bears the year 1192, traditionally taken as the founding year. The convent was secularized in 1528 and the commandry dissolved in 1789.
The commander's house displays items that show how the community lived here, including old coins and weapons that reflect the collecting interests of past residents.
The complex stands at 508 m above sea level in the municipality of Bubikon, southeast of Zurich. The commander's house holds the museum, while the adjacent farm and barn buildings are privately cultivated and not part of the visit. The chapel was restored between 1993 and 1995 and the exterior partly renewed in 2011.
A garden growing medieval medicinal herbs shows which plants were cultivated during the commandry's active period. This collection lets visitors see firsthand how herbs were used in this community long ago.
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