Territorial Abbey of Maria Einsiedeln, Benedictine abbey in Einsiedeln, Switzerland

Territorial Abbey of Maria Einsiedeln is a Benedictine monastery whose church was rebuilt under Abbot Maurus between 1704 and 1719, with the baroque ornamentation finished in 1734. The grey stone complex has a curved central facade with a dark wooden double door, a round window, a statue niche and a clock, flanked by two towers; the left tower carries a dark green domed cupola with a golden cross. Dark red roofs surround a paved square.

Meinrad, a monk from Reichenau, built a hermitage with a small chapel in the Finstern Wald in 835 and was murdered there in January 861. Hermits settled again around 906, and in 934 Eberhard, provost of Strasbourg, gathered them under the Rule of St Benedict as first abbot. King Otto I confirmed the foundation on 27 October 947; the first abbey church was consecrated in 948.

The name Einsiedeln comes from the German for hermitage, after Meinrad's cell. Each 14 September the Feast of the Consecration of the Angels recalls the legend that Christ himself consecrated the chapel in 948. The Black Madonna in the Chapel of Grace draws around 800,000 pilgrims and tourists a year.

Visitors can explore the grounds on foot and discover the church's architecture and spaces independently. There are quiet moments for lingering, especially in the early morning hours when the surroundings are less crowded.

The abbey runs a private high school, a winery, a sawmill and a restaurant to support itself. One pupil, Ludwig von Flüe, later served in the Swiss Guards in France and played a key role in the Storming of the Bastille in 1789.