Around forty minutes north-west from Stuttgart, you can find Kloster Maulbronn, or Maulbronn Abbey.
While it doesn't have quite the profile of some other European holy houses, it does have quite a colourful history.
According to legend, when the abbey's founder, Walter von Lomersheim couldn't decide where to site his new foundation, he released a mule - where it stopped, there he'd build.
Apparently, not only did the animal find a lovely, well-protected spot in a valley, but it struck a rock with its hooves, causing water to gush out.
Mule magic or not, from its beginnings in the mid-twelfth century, until the eve of the Reformation, the Cistercian monastery grew Into a regional powerhouse - boosted by wool and wine production.
There's a story that in the early 16th century, Johann Georg Faust - the historical inspiration for Goethe's tragic antihero - was contracted by the abbot to create gold, presumably to build the place even bigger. While the tale isn’t too clear on the success of Faust’s efforts, the abbot was later removed for fiddling with the books.
Come the Reformation, Kloster Maulbronn escaped the fate of many other monasteries (that is, burned down, torn apart, used as target practice) by becoming a school. In fact, if you look at the stone of the cloister, it’s absolutely covered in graffiti by alumni.
In fact, the monastery school has some very prominent alumni - the astronomer Johannes Kepler, the poet Friedrich Hölderlin and the author Herman Hesse attended the school at different times.
All of this pales, however, in contrast to Maulbronn’s real claim to fame - the Maultaschen. The story goes that at some stage in the middle ages, a certain Brother Jacob decided to enfold some minced pork in an egg noodle shroud, in an effort to skirt religiously-enforced dietary restrictions on eating meat. The thinking here was that God couldn’t see through pasta. I know, I don’t quite get the theology either.
Anyway, I recommend the ones they serve at Cafe Wagnerhaus. Not only are they tasty, firm, and rich, as they should be, but you’ll be eating them in one of the monastery’s authentic outbuildings, dating from (at the very least) the 17th century. Very cozy.
Want to see more of my photos of Maulbronn?
Address: Klosterhof 5, 75433 Maulbronn in your GPS will get you there. Nearest train stations are Maulbronn Stadt/Kloster or Maulbronn West (although that last one is a bit of a hike).
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