Convent from Schwartzenthann

Description

A sisters' convent was part of the Augustinian convent found in 1089 in Marbach (Commune of Obermorschwihr). In 1117, the sisters got a piece of land in the valley of Wintzfelden and built there a chapel consecrated to the Blessed Virgin. In the 12th century, there were 40 sisters in the convent. The convent reached its peak in 1154 with the creation of the well-known Codex Guta-Sintram beautifully and ornamentally written by Guta von Schwartzenthann and illuminated by the canon Sintram from Marbach. This work is the most beautiful Romanesque calligraphy in Alsace since the disappearance in the fire of the library of Strasbourg in 1870 of the Hortus deliciarum from the abbess Herade de Landsberg. The church was enlarged in 1214. Since the 13th century, the convent has been attacked many times. The last sisters left Schwartzenthann in 1531 and settled down in Schoenensteinbach. The commune of Soultzmatt bought the convent from the bishop of Strasbourg in 1543. The ruin was discovered in 1969. How to go there: in Wintzfelden, turn left in the first street. Then take the forest road direction “Vestige de Schwartzenthann” until the ruin.