The Monastery St. Martin near Hermetschwil

30 January 2022

The Benedictine nunnery of St. Martin is located in the Freiamt Bremgarten on the banks of the Reuss and north of the village of Hermetschwil (Canton of Aargau). The monastery was founded in 1082 and is one of the most impressive cultural sites in the region.

The beginnings of the abbey date back to the double monastery of Muri (founded in 1027). In 1083, during the Hirsau Reform movement, this monastery founded a women’s monastery and became a double monastery. A monastic quorum and monastic equality avant la lettre.

The first nuns came from the convent in Berau (near Waldshut) in the 12th century. This convent, founded in 1110, was connected to St. Blasien in the Black Forest (founded in the 9th century).

The government dissolved the monastery during the reformation in the Canton of Aargau (around 1530). In 1973 the monastery regained its full right of existence and ownership and accepted novices.