Grüssau Abbey

The roots of Grüssau Abbey trace back to Benedictine monks who had to leave the Emmaus Monastery in Prague after World War I and settled in the former Cistercian monastery of Grüssau in Silesia in 1919. After the monastery's dissolution during World War II and the expulsion of the monks from Silesia in May 1946, they sought a new abode. After failed plans in northern Germany, they decided on July 1, 1947, to re-settle the knightly collegiate church in Bad Wimpfen, which had been abandoned since 1803. The Hessian state government had already offered the property in May 1947. The first monks arrived in August 1947 and had to hastily create living space by converting the western part of the Gothic cloister and the former collegiate granary.