Roggenburg Abbey

Roggenburg Abbey (Kloster Roggenburg or Reichsstift Roggenburg) is a Premonstratensian canonry in Roggenburg near Neu-Ulm, Bavaria, in operation between 1126 and 1802, and again from its re-foundation in 1986. Since 1992 it has been an independent priory of Windberg Abbey in Lower Bavaria (Roggenburg Priory). The monastery manages a training centre and a museum, and is widely known for its almost unchanged Baroque building and the organ concerts that are held in the church.

For over three centuries, Roggenburg was one of the 40-odd self-ruling imperial abbeys of the Holy Roman Empire and, as such, was a virtually independent state. Its abbot had seat and voice at the Imperial Diet where he sat on the Bench of the Prelates of Swabia. At the time of the abbey's dissolution in 1802, its territory covered 112 square kilometers and it had 3,300-5,000 subjects.

History

First foundation

In 1126 Count Bertold of Bibereck, together with his wife and his two brothers, Konrad, Bishop of Chur, and Siegfried, a canon in the diocese of Augsburg, founded the monastery. The first Premonstratensian canons came from Ursberg Abbey nearby and built the first monastery church.