Kloster Bernstein, Former monastery in Sulz am Neckar, Germany

Kloster Bernstein is a former monastery south of Kloster Kirchberg near Renfrizhausen, a district of Sulz am Neckar. The present building was erected from 1728 to 1733 by the Rottweil master builder Joseph Feuerstein. From the earlier complex survive a large vaulted drip fountain of 1448, renewed in 1620, and the old monastery garden with columns and pedestals.

The monastery was founded in 1361 as a brotherhouse for hermits and shifted to Franciscan tertiaries in the 16th century. Secularization occurred in the early 1800s, after which the building underwent several different uses.

The name Bernstein comes from the monastery, which from 1946 housed the private Bernsteinschule art school; the sources place it there until the 1950s, not 1955. In the crypt, HAP Grieshaber painted the "Todesengel" (Angel of Death) on the inner wall, its wing shaped like a scythe. The building is now a private farm estate.

The monastery complex now functions as a private agricultural estate and is not regularly open to visitors. It is advisable to check accessibility ahead of time and visit only by prior arrangement.

In the monastery building's "Gruft" (crypt), HAP Grieshaber painted the "Todesengel" (Angel of Death) on the interior wall, not the ceiling. The figure's wing resembles a scythe, its small head tilts right within a halo-like frame, and its right hand points at the next victim.