The Disentis Monastery

9 March 2024

The monastery of Disentis in the village of Disentis/Munster (Munster means monastery in the Romansh language, canton Graubünden) was founded around 700.

The Saracens destroyed the monastery in 940. Charlemagne (748-814) and German emperors of the Holy Roman Empire travelled to Italy via Disentis on their way to or from the Lukmanier Pass.

The monastery’s abbot was one of the initiators of the Graue or Obere Bund (the Grey League) in 1395. In 1497, the Grey League became an ally (Zugewandter Ort) of the Eidgenosssenschaft.

The abbot played a decisive role in this process. The following two centuries were dominated by the Reformation in the Freistaat der Drei Bünde (from 1524 to 1803, the canton of Graubünden). Disentis, however, remained Catholic.

The complex was rebuilt in the Baroque style at the end of the 17th century.
The war between France, Russia, and Austria reached Disentis in 1799. The monastery was looted.

However, the new canton did not abolish it after 1815. For this reason, the monastery entered its fourteenth century with the renovation of the Lady Chapel (Maria Kapelle).

(Source and further information: Kloster Disentis)

Impressions

The church

The chapel

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Further Impressions