The history of our cloister
The Kloster Wald was founded in 1212 by Burkard von Weckenstein as a Cistercian monastery. The Romanesque and Gothic parts of the cloister, as well as the chapter house and the 'Jenner wings,' stem from the Middle Ages. In 1698 the Abbess Jakobi v. Bodman had the monastery church rebuilt in the baroque style. In the years 1721-1727, the abbess Antonia von Falkenstein built the great baroque monastery complex in the west and north of the grounds. In 1806 the abbey was abolished in the wake of secularisation, and it served many purposes as the 'forest office' in the possession of the princes of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen.
After the 2nd World War, in 1946, Benedictine nuns of St. Lioba from Freiburg founded the 'Home Schooling Kloster Wald' in vacant buildings, a girls boarding school in the Christian spirit. The sisters ensured that the monastery complex was maintained. Many old structures were recovered through renovation work; the space requirements of a modern school could be integrated little by little into the historic buildings. In 1994 the Congregation of the Benedictine Sisters of St. Lioba gave the sponsorship of the 'Home Schooling Kloster Wald' to the school foundation of the archdiocese of Freiburg.
The history still permeates the buildings in which twisty medieval rooms, supported by old wooden beams, alternate with bright baroque halls and dark corridors with wide grand staircases; curved arches with stucco ceilings embellish in the classrooms. The main house was not built according to a consistent plan, but instead has expanded on the particular needs and opportunities of the time. This resulted a unity in diversity of styles. To those young people of today who are tired of concrete and glass, the old monastery looks comfortable, familiar and homey. It does not offer all the comforts of living, but here one experiences visible tradition, culture and history and can develop a feeling for the genuine and the permanent.