Benediktbeuern

Benediktbeuern's monastery developed into a centre of learning and manuscript culture in the Bavarian Alpine foothills. Its beginnings belong to the eighth century, although the precise foundation date is uncertain. The medieval song collection known as Carmina Burana takes its familiar name from the manuscript's provenance at Benediktbeuern. The collection itself was compiled around 1230, probably elsewhere in the southern Alpine region, and includes secular Latin poetry, German texts and religious plays.

Secularisation ended Benedictine life at the monastery in 1803. The buildings subsequently served several purposes, including a glassworks where Joseph von Fraunhofer conducted optical research. The Salesians of Don Bosco acquired the complex in 1930. Its educational, spiritual and environmental activities continue within a setting shaped by the monastery's Baroque architecture and long history of study.