Burgeis and Marienberg Abbey

Marienberg was founded by the noble lords of Tarasp from the Engadin and goes back to the 12th century. Burgeis itself is first mentioned as “Burgusia” in an abbey record of 1148/49. For centuries the monastery was the spiritual centre of the Upper Vinschgau: at the end of the 16th century it faced dissolution, which the pope and the Tyrolean government prevented; in the 17th century it flourished anew under Abbot Matthias Lang of Weingarten, and in 1724 the abbey founded a humanist grammar school in Merano.

A setback came in 1807, when the Bavarian government dissolved the monastery, expelled the monks and plundered the archive and library. In 1816 the abbey was restored. The school in Merano had to close in 1928 under political pressure; from 1946 to 1986 the monastery ran a private school at Marienberg itself. Monks still live here according to the Rule of St. Benedict.

The most famous room is the crypt. Bishop Adalgott of Chur consecrated it in 1160; it first served as the monks’ original place of worship and later as a burial place. According to Wikipedia the frescoes date from between 1175 and 1180; they were partly discovered in 1887 and came to light in full colour in 1980 after the tomb structures were removed. The abbey calls them one of the greatest testimonies of Romanesque art in the Alps; the angels on a blue ground are the best known.

The crypt can only be visited on a guided tour. On 11 August 1992 Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, later Pope Benedict XVI, celebrated a service here. If you cannot visit the crypt, you can see the angels in the museum’s film.

The abbey church dates from the late 12th century. You enter through a Romanesque round-arched portal; in the tympanum sits the “beautiful Madonna” of the early 15th century, handing an apple to the Christ child. The church received its present Baroque look between 1643 and 1648 under Abbot Jakob Grafinger: the transept became a sacristy, a choir for prayer and the prelates’ chapel, the narrow Romanesque windows were enlarged, and the Renaissance-style stucco was made by Florian Nuth of Innsbruck and Brother Paul Bock.

The Baroque organ that Carlo Prati built for this church in 1677 and 1678 now stands in the parish church of Burgeis: the village bought it at auction after the dissolution of 1807. The courtyard is marked by the contrast between old masonry and the glazed new museum wing.

On the ground floor of the service wing, renovated between 2004 and 2008, the museum opened in 2007 shows with films and objects daily life behind the monastery walls, life according to the Rule of St. Benedict and the monks’ work over recent centuries. The alterations from the late 13th century onwards can be read in the building itself. Changing exhibitions tell stories from the monastery’s holdings.

The display depot in the former library rooms opened in 2021. It shows the teaching collection of the Merano school, from physics apparatus to stuffed animals and minerals; the restoration uncovered a Romanesque beamed ceiling and parts of what is probably the oldest log house in Europe. The library, with more than 100,000 printed works, is housed in a modern underground building. Both can only be seen on a guided tour, held in German. For an audio guide the Ferienregion Vinschgau names the app “Hearonymus”.

About ten minutes’ walk from the abbey stands the whitewashed church of St. Stephen with the convent cemetery, popularly called “Kleinmarienberg”. Excavations uncovered wall remains from the 5th century, and the restoration between 2018 and 2020 revealed late Gothic wall paintings from the 15th century and a Lombard belt buckle, now in the museum. The church can only be visited on a guided tour, whereas the cemetery is open to the public.

The village lies at about 1,216 m. It is rich in frescoed house façades, old portals, outside staircases and oriel windows; in the centre stands the St. Michael fountain. The Fürstenburg of the 13th century was built as a seat of the prince-bishops of Chur and now houses an agricultural and forestry school; from the road you see the castle and, above it, the white abbey. The parish church of the Immaculate Conception holds the Prati organ, and the Baroque painter Johann Evangelist Holzer was born in Burgeis, remembered by a plaque.

From the village the short marked Benediktsteig leads straight to the abbey; other routes go, among others, over the Sonnensteig. From the hotel follow trails 2A and 2 through Prämajur and past the Röfen farms to Marienberg and on to Burgeis; you return on foot or, depending on the timetable, by bus.

If you want more distance, walk the Sagenweg from Burgeis to the abbey, about 2 hours, or along the Oberwaal irrigation channel near Mals. Both walks have their own page with a route description and GPX file; the links are below.

The museum is not open all year, and guided tours and café also follow the season; periods change, so check them on the abbey’s website before you go. Because museum and church are under cover, Marienberg is a good plan for a rainy day. In clear weather the walk is worth it, as the view over the Upper Vinschgau opens up above Burgeis.

With children the museum with its films and the short walk from the car park are worthwhile; the crypt and library tours suit older children better. The abbey itself is not open to the public, but museum, shop, café and church are. Animals are not allowed in the museum or on the guided tours: a dog does not come into the museum, but on the trails from the village to the abbey it can join you.

The abbey café (Klostercafé) opened in 2019 in the former monastery sawmill, with a view of the west façade and a terrace beside the larch wood; it opens in the warmer part of the year. Burgeis also has inns and a tourist information office of the Ferienregion.

From Marienberg you can continue the day in Burgeis, with the town of Glurns, Churburg castle near Schluderns or a stop at Lake Reschen. High above the abbey, at 2,222 m, lies the Pfaffensee, named after the Benedictines; the hike has its own page. And as early as the 12th century, farms in Burgeis also owed dues to St. John’s Abbey in Müstair: a trip there closes the circle.

Hotel Kastellatz stands in Prämajur at 1,740 m, about 5 kilometres from the abbey. By car it takes about 10 minutes, all downhill on the hotel road; the figures and the route button are in the “From the hotel” block above. If you walk, allow more time for the way there than for the bus ride back.

By car: From Prämajur drive down the road towards Burgeis and Schlinig; the abbey stands right on this road. The visitor car park is in a bend about 100 metres before the abbey, and parking directly in front of the abbey is not allowed.

By bus and train: According to the Ferienregion Vinschgau, bus line 277 serves the abbey; the timetable is on suedtirolmobil.info. With the Reschensee Guest Pass, train and bus throughout South Tyrol are included in your stay.

On foot: Trails 2A and 2 lead from Prämajur past the Röfen farms to the abbey and on to Burgeis.