Canton: Schwyz (SZ)
The famous Swiss pilgrimage destination of Einsiedeln, situated in a high valley of the Pre-Alps between Lake Zurich and Lake Lucerne, has been a great focus of religion and culture for more than 1,000 years, and its magnificent conventual buildings are one of the peak achievements
of Baroque architecture. The Gnadenkapelle (chapel of Grace) with its Black Virgin, draws large numbers of pilgrims every year, and many visitors are also attracted by the quiet and beauty of the abbey's setting. For the winter sports enthusiast there are six ski lifts and about 52km/32mi of long-distance runs. The famous "Grosse Welttheater" (Great Theater of the World) by Calderón de la Barca has been performed here several times since 1924 (planned for 1992).
In 934 Eberhard, Dean of Strasbourg Cathedral, founded a community of hermits in the "Dark Forest" above the hermitage of a monk from Reichenau, Meinrad, who had been murdered in 861; and Duke Hermann of Swabia and his wife Reginlinde granted the monastic settlement enough land to provide for its maintenance. In 937 Einsiedeln was made a royal abbey, and its abbot became a prince of the Empire. The buildings were destroyed by fire on five occasions, in 1029, 1226, 1465, 1509 and 1577. The Reformer Ulrich Zwingli was for a time a secular priest at Einsiedeln. In 1639 the first peace negotiations between France and Bavaria during the Thirty Years War were conducted here. The building history of the abbey covered the whole range from Romanesque through Gothic to Baroque. Einsiedeln later developed into an important area of intellectual activity, with a flourishing printing and publishing industry. It is the administrative heart of the district of the same name, which comprises the "quarters" of Bernau, Egg, Eutal, Gross, Trachslau and Willerzell.
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