Monastery Bebenhausen

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The Monastery of Bebenhausen lies in the Schönbuch Forest, and was founded around 1183/84 by the Pfalzgraf (Count Palatine) Rudolf von Tübingen. In the beginning it was planned to belong to the Premonstraten'sian Order, but that order left for unknown reasons the monastery around 1190 and in 1191 the Cistercian Order took over.
It had it's high in the 13^th to 15^th century, and was one of the wealthiest monasteries in Württemberg. In 1535 Duke Ulrich von Württemberg closed the monastery due to the reformation. A small convent returned a bit later for a short period. In 1556 Duke Ulrich von Württemberg opened one of the four higher monastery schools in Bebenhausen. In 1648 the monastery was completely shut down. The monastery school existed in Bebenhausen until 1806, when it was combined with the existing school in Maulbronn (now listed as world heritage of the UNESCO). It was King Friedrich I who closed the theological school, and started using it for his own pleasure. in 1807 he converted the Abbot's house into an hunting palace. Most parts of the former monastery was not used at all. His son transferred the Monastery to the state of Württemberg, and hardly used it. Only at the end of his reign he put an end to the progressing decay.
His successor King Karl started to use the palace again, transforming parts of it for use of himself and his russian wife. The last king of Württemberg, King Wilhelm II (1891-1921) also used it a lot with his wife Charlotte, and they retired to live there completely in 1918. He died 3 years later, and his wife continued to live there until she died in 1946.
After Second World War, from 1947 until 1952, the Monastery has been the seat of the parliament of the state of Württemberg-Hohenzollern (one of the four states that got united to the state Baden-Württemberg in 1952).