Buch Abbey

Kloster Buch was first mentioned in a document of Emperor Heinrich IV who bestowed to it the parish of Leisnig[1] According to Cistercian tradition,[2] abbot Hildebert, twelve monks and twelve lay brothers left Sittichenbach Abbey in 1 August 1192 and reached Buch on 17 August 1192. Kloster Buch is therefore a filial abbey of Sittichenbach, their primary abbey is Morimond. The foundation of the new abbey was initiated by Burgrave Heinrich III of Leisnig, who resided in nearby Mildenstein Castle. Unlike other Cistercian monasteries, it was not founded in uninhabited parts.

The Burgraves of Leisnig gifted the monastery with many villages. It also possessed several granges in the surrounding regions as well as outposts in Leipzig and Oschatz, indication its participation in the medieval overland trade. In 1309 the monastery acquired the town of Belgern, where it established an ecclesiastical manor, together with its ferry across the river Elbe.

Manor buildings in Belgern, once belonging to Kloster Buch

The Margraves of Meißen, who forced the Burgraves of Leisnig to sell their burgraviate and who took possession of Mildenstein Castle in 1365, also bestowed the monastery with donations or had donations of their ministeriali transferred to it. Finally, the monastery held 52 villages.

The number of monks and lay brothers living in Kloster Buch has not been passed on. In the late Middle Ages most monks hailed from the local and neighbouring areas, the furthest known place of origin was Halle (Saale). In 1433 a manuscript bible was made in the monastery, and in 1441 the abbot gained privileges ordinarily reserved to bishops, such as to wear a mitre and a bishop's ring during Solemn Mass, and to consecrate objects for liturgical use. In the same year, the abbey was awarded a coat of arms by the Council of Basel, showing the Lamb of God, a flag with the Christian cross, and three roses symbolising Mary, the patron saint of the Cistercian order.

In 1486 a Cistercian school was founded in Belgern which prepared young monks for their studies, in particular at the Cistercian college of Leipzig University.

After abbot Antonius Dytz died on 20 December 1525, the monastery was dissolved in the course of the Protestant Reformation which had already prevailed in nearby Leisnig. Prince-elector John the Steadfast had the election of a new abbot suppressed and ordered the properties of the abbey to be administrated by his representative Kaspar Kitzscher. The monks were offered – according to their rank – parts of the property of the monastery as means of subsistence, or money to take up a civil trade. Alternatively, they were allowed remain on place.[3]

The village of Klosterbuch grew from buildings surrounding the secularised monastery. In 1965 it was incorporated into Leisnig.

Manor chapel, seen from the courtyard

From 1532 on, the Landstände of Saxony took over the administration of the sequestered holdings of the monastery from the representatives of the Leisnig Amtmann More distant possessions were lost, while others were sold, such as the villages of Poselitz (1534) and Paudritzsch (1545). In 1548 the estate was put under the control of Klosteramt of Buch, and a register (Amtserbbuch) was compiled. In 1556, councilors of the Prince-elector took over the administration, and in 1567 the estate was given to Johann von Zeschau as a hereditary fiefdom, becoming a manor in the process. The Zeschau family had the abbot's house rebuilt and, probably around 1600, the manorial chapel built from the ruins of the choir of the abbey's church. During the Thirty Years' War the estate suffered much damage and had to be auctioned off. It was bought by Fürstenschule Grimma who had the manor chapel renovated and consecrated anew in 1678 by the church superintendent of Leisnig, and remained in possession of the estate until 1836, when it became property of the Saxon state.[4]

In the course of the agrarian reforms (Bodenreform) in the Soviet occupation zone the manor was transformed into a Volkseigenes Gut. In 1990 this became a GbR who, however, stopped using the former monastery premises for agricultural purposes in 1994. Restoration works started in 1992, directed by the town of Leisnig and its local history club. In 2000 the premises passed into the hands of the support association Förderverein Kloster Buch e.V., and transformation into a historico-cultural centre began.

Floods in 2002 caused severe damage which was completely repaired until 2008. Today the former abbey is used as a venue for exhibitions, guided tours and other events, among them a monthly farmer's market and the yearly monastery and harvest festival in September.[5] Each year, Kloster Buch receives tens of thousands of visitors.

360-degree panorama of the monastery courtyard, the buildings are (from left): chapter house, manor chapel from remains of the former monastery church, entrance to the monastery area (at the northwest corner), so-called cowshed, Zehrgarten, Abthaus (abbot's residence), behind it is the infirmary and, on the far right, other farm buildings