Verbindung Schönthal - St. Urban

Monastery of Saint Urban

The Frohburgers founded this monastery in the year 1145. Originally, there was a double monastery (monks and nuns); from 1300 it was a pure women's monastery. During the Reformation, this monastery was dissolved in 1529.

Choir stalls Monastery St. Urban

The path leads towards Langenbruck (upper Hauenstein), along the Augsbach towards Schlosshöchi (856m), the culmination point of this section; below us, we see the stately ruin of Alt Bechburg from the 11th century.

After a brief descent, we reach the Blüemlismatt situated in a beautiful clearing. Through a magnificent beech forest, the path now gently descends along the slope ledge before it then leads quite steeply downhill towards Egerkingen. In the Losen area, a short detour would take us to the "Brother Klaus Fountain," where Niklaus von der Flüe refreshed himself on his journey.

Schönthal Monastery with Garden

Through the Flue and the Jacob's Ladder, we soon reach Egerkingen. Once we leave the forest, a wonderful view opens up of the Mittelland lying before us, which we will soon partially cross. After the Egerkingen church, we leave the Jura southern foothills and soon reach the motorway via the train station, crossing under which we arrive at Härkingen.

Soon we reach a spacious picnic area with an interesting forest nature trail (Black walnut). Through forest areas and reforested gravel mining terrain, we soon reach Fulenbach. Across the Aare bridge (Jura water correction/Murgenthal condition) we get to Murgenthal.

Through a natural floodplain landscape, we hike between the Rot canal and the Murg, which forms the canton border Bern/Aargau, to the Murg dam. The varied landscape through former water meadows now accompanies us to St. Urban in the valley of the Rot.

At the instigation of the Barons of Langenstein from Oberaargau, monks from the Abbey of Lützel in Alsace founded the monastery in the Rot valley in 1194. The monastic community thus belonged to the filiation of the primary abbey Morimond. In the late 13th century, the monastery produced large quantities of bricks from which the second monastery complex was built. The bricks were made in two versions: simple rectangular bricks used for walls, and decorated molded pieces. These decorated pieces were used for door frames, doorposts, gate arches, window frames, lintels, and cornices. Floor tiles were also produced. Due to the variety of these decorative stones and the ceramic technique of pressed ornaments, these stones became "witnesses of a remarkable Swiss craft of the 13th century." Since 1991, Richard Bucher has reestablished a workshop for handmade brick production in the former monastery. The current monastery building was erected in the first half of the 18th century by the Vorarlberg master builder Franz Beer and is one of the most impressive examples of baroque architecture in Switzerland. A highlight in the monastery church built between 1711 and 1715 is the choir stalls from 1700 to 1707. Also significant is the organ built by Joseph and Viktor Ferdinand Bossard in 1721. The St. Urbanhof in Zofingen and its counterpart in Sursee served as administrative buildings for the monastery's fiefs. On April 13, 1848, the canton of Lucerne, following the death of Abbot Friedrich Pfluger, ordered the dissolution of the monastery and the sale of its properties to pay off war debts to the victorious cantons of the Sonderbund War. Art treasures and the monastery library with the Gatterer collection were transferred to state ownership. This also included the artistically valuable choir stalls, which were only repurchased in the 20th century and reinstalled in 1911. The monastery premises, initially sold off cheaply, were repurchased and in 1873 a cantonal "insane asylum" was established here. Today, a cantonal psychiatric clinic (Lucerne Psychiatry) still exists here.