Gerlachsheim Castle

The later Gerlachsheim convent was first mentioned in 1209 in a document from the Bishop of Würzburg as "claustro sanctimonialium in Lutzelenludin". However, the oldest entries in the monastery's donation and foundation book date back to 1187. In the episcopal document, property donations to the convent, including in the village of "Gerlagesheim", were confirmed to the monastery founder Siboto von Zimmern or von Lauda. The older monastery location "Lutzelenludin" is localized near the present-day Gerlachsheim train station; the current location is attested no later than 1228. Further endowments of property, vineyards, and forest within a radius of about 20 km around Gerlachsheim served to support the 20 nuns and their servants. In addition to the founding family and their successors, the Counts of Rieneck, other nobles from the Tauber-Odenwald region also endowed the monastery. This group of people also provided the conventuals, 31 of whom are even named in 1359. The mistresses of the monastery also came from the count and lower noble families of the area. Among the 20 mistresses verifiable between 1260 and 1549, five were daughters of the Counts of Wertheim alone. While about 30 nuns lived in Gerlachsheim during the convent's heyday, their number significantly decreased in the first half of the 16th century, until finally only the mistress and one other nun resided there.

The assignment of the women's convent to the Premonstratensian Order is first evident in a confirmation document by Pope Innocent IV in 1254. The father abbot of the monastery, located in the Diocese of Mainz, was the abbot of the Premonstratensian monastery of Oberzell near Würzburg.

Around 1261, the monastery district was partially destroyed by the Archbishop of Mainz and his allies. The documented damages to buildings and property allow a glimpse into the existing economic infrastructure. The church and convent buildings apparently remained unharmed in this conflict. Only during the Peasants' War did the establishment suffer further major damage.

The Vogt rights of the Lords of Zimmern-Lauda over the monastery initially passed by inheritance to the Counts of Rieneck, and then, as an escheated fief, to the Archbishopric of Mainz. In 1506, the Prince-Bishopric of Würzburg was finally able to acquire "all and every right over the monastery and village" from Palatine possession for 25,000 guilders. A few years after the death of the last mistress, the Bishop of Würzburg placed the monastery under his financial chamber. Thus, the history of the Premonstratensian convent of Gerlachsheim ended in 1563.

The Premonstratensian Order, striving for the return of the alienated monastic property, finally achieved this in 1717 and established a priory assigned to the male monastery of Oberzell. The re-establishment of a women's convent was, as a result of the provisions of the Council of Trent, refrained from for security reasons. While initially ten to twelve priests lived in Gerlachsheim, in the last years before the dissolution of the monastery, there were usually 17 canons residing there. The Abbot of Oberzell also spent several weeks annually in the Grünbach valley.

The monastery church, which served as a parish church, and the convent buildings continued to exist after the dissolution of the women's convent, but they increasingly fell into disrepair. Thus, a baroque new building of the monastery and parish church of Heilig Kreuz took place in the years 1723-1728. The church was consecrated in 1730. The convent buildings were also rebuilt on the old foundations. The magnificent interior of the church, which is still largely preserved in its original state, and the organ by Johann Philipp Seuffert today form, among other things, the atmospheric setting for concerts.

In 1803, the Gerlachsheim monastery property was awarded to the Altgraf von Salm-Reifferscheidt-Bedburg as compensation in the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss, and the convent was dissolved.

Even after the mediatization in 1806, the monastery buildings served as a castle and administrative seat. In 1838, the Baden state acquired the properties, but with the abolition of the Gerlachsheim district office, a new use for the buildings was sought. In 1874, an institution for the deaf and mute opened there, which was successively dissolved from 1935. During the Second World War, the monastery complex housed forcibly resettled Slovenes; after the war, the premises served as a central transit camp for displaced persons. Since 1952, the Main-Tauber-Kreis has used the former convent buildings as a retirement and nursing home.