Abbey Ottobeuren

A subjective view of the place

Preface

Our original plan was just to add a neutral and impersonal report on Ottobeuren.
The page you are going to read now differs from this project as we have preferred conveying our very personal subjective impressions about the location. If you want to get informed about specific details on art history, please turn to the relevant books or the internet. We hope you nevertheless enjoy our page and are able to understand our emotions.

The Arrival

Arriving at the carport we did not notice anything special at first. We were neither overwhelmed by pompous buildings nor by huge statues. From the distance Ottobeuren looked more like a small cosy hamlet. But the nearer we got to the abbey - our destination - the more impressed we were. Not the details did impress us, but the site as a whole. It lay sparkling in the sun. Looking to the outside you felt somewhat secluded, but looking in the other direction towards the monastery you could sense perfect oneness with the place which could hardly be topped.

Our First Impression

"Coolness welcomes you". This was our first thought when we entered the church.(Admittedly, we felt very glad to escape from the glaring heat.)
But then something unusual happened : we did not go through the church sticking together as a group - as we normally do - but everyone of us made his own individual way through the abbey - our compliment to its greatness. After some time we met again trying to collect what we had seen. Official Information

The crunching sound of the ancient pews ,where we were seated to listen to our guide, could not stop her flow of words. Everything, definitely everything, was
explained to us ( this is the scientific part we referred to in our preface).
History and life in the church amalgamated into a gigantic 3-D - memorial being unique.
Believe us, it is worth visiting.

The departure

The farewell was painful. Well, this might seem exaggerated to you, but anyway you could notice the change. The heat outside transferred us into different spheres.

Epilogue

We hope you understand our decision to leave out details ( if you are interested turn to us). All we can say is that we are glad to have been in Ottobeuren - we have been deeply impressed. We now do not want to prevent you from going to Ottobeuren any longer - that is why we leave you alone now and wish you a nice day.