The gardens at Schöntal Monastery served different functions. The convent garden was representational and the abbey garden was a functional garden. Today, the monastery gardens have been partially rebuilt in their basic structure.
The monastery garden had a sophisticated design.
The convent garden had sophisticated water features as early as the16th century. Its central location directly behind the church and convent made it an important representational space. The remnants of a Baroque fountain, a staircase and bordered beds are still indicative of its grand past.
The abbey garden was located outside the monastery. Enclosed by a wall and oriented on an axis from the main entrance, its rectangular outline is still visible today. This is where the monks’ crops were planted, but also herbs and healing plants for the production of medicines in their apothecary.
Herbs for medicinal preparations grew in the garden.
Herbal medicine was an important scientific field within the monastery. The Medieval monastery garden played an important role in this. With their gardens, monasteries had a significant influence over the cultivation of plants, their pervasiveness within the cultural landscape and their dietary and medicinal uses, even beyond the monastery walls.
Visitors interested in healing herbs should visit the abbey garden during the flowering season from May to September.
