Paulinzella Abbey, Benedictine monastery ruins in Königsee, Germany.

Paulinzella Abbey is a roofless Benedictine monastery ruin in the Rottenbachtal valley, built of light grey and tan rectangular stone blocks. Its left section has a low wall with a tall arched arcade and a row of smaller arched windows above; the right end rises into a gabled wall with a narrow opening, a small round opening and two large arched windows. The church was consecrated in 1124 and modelled on the abbey church of Hirsau.

The monastery was founded around 1100 as a double community where monks and nuns lived separately. After a major fire in the 17th century, the complex was never rebuilt.

The monk Sigeboto, who came from Hirsau in 1121, wrote the Vita Paulinae, a life of the founder Paulina modelled on a saint's legend; she was beatified but never canonised, with a feast day on 14 March. Around 1800 the ruin became an early tourist destination of the classical-romantic literary world, praised as "picturesque" and "sublime" in Ludwig Bechstein's 1838 "Wanderungen durch Thüringen".

The ruins are open year-round and free to visit at your own pace. The paths through the site are easy to navigate.

The church was modelled on the abbey church of Hirsau, destroyed in 1692; Paulinzella therefore became a key surviving example of Hirsau Reform architecture. The monk Sigeboto, who came from Hirsau in 1121, wrote the Vita Paulinae, a saint's life of the founder Paulina, who was beatified but never canonised and is venerated on 14 March.