Grafschaft Abbey, Benedictine monastery in Schmallenberg, Germany.

Grafschaft Abbey is a long, white-plastered building with a dark grey pitched roof, standing at the foot of the Wilzenberg mountain in Schmallenberg-Grafschaft. A taller square tower with a steep hipped roof and small spire rises at its left end, and the projecting central section, framed by light stone quoins, has a coat of arms above a round-arched stone doorway reached by a short double staircase. The abbey church, rebuilt in the Baroque style and dedicated in 1747, was demolished in the 19th century; the remaining convent buildings now house a hospital run by the Sisters of Mercy.

Anno II, Archbishop of Cologne, founded the Benedictine abbey of St. Alexander in 1072 at the foot of the Wilzenberg; the first monks came from Siegburg. The original buildings burned down in 1270. From 1729 the premises were rebuilt in Baroque style, finished in 1742 and the church dedicated in 1747. The abbey was dissolved in 1804 during secularisation.

The place carries the name of a medieval county and is shaped today by sisters who run a hospital here. Daily life blends religious traditions with modern healing efforts for patients with respiratory conditions.

Grafschaft Abbey stands in the Grafschaft district of Schmallenberg, at the foot of the Wilzenberg, not in Schmallenberg's town centre. The white-plastered Baroque building with its tower and double staircase is seen from the lawn; the hospital rooms inside are closed to visitors, while the abbey museum is open to the public.

The grounds house one of Germany's largest respiratory weaning centers, where patients learn to become independent from artificial ventilation. This specialized medical role emerged only after 1948 and transformed the old monastery in an entirely new way.