BRAUHAUS KLOSTER
MACHERN – BERNKASTEL-KUES
Monastery Brewery - Wine, Toys & Icons on the Mosel
Once
it was a medieval Cistercian Monastery and Convent, now it is a must
stop on a wine tour of the Mosel near Trier. Where habited nuns once
walked
in
silent prayers, now you’ll find a virtual mall of activities of
food and drink, with a bit of history. The Kloster Machern (essentially “Monastery
of Making”) has always been a producer of wine, though the name
is more a brand now than it’s original. The Cistercian order of
monks supported themselves by making their own wines, and in the heart
of the Mosel wine growing region near Bernkastel-Kues (see Moselle Valley Wine Touring), where the Romans
first crushed grapes, wine and beer is now a business. The religious
orders long ago abandoned the site, but the craft remains.
The
first evidence of a monastic society on the site of the present day
monastery was recorded in the 1084, with the formal foundation of
an order sanctioned by Bernard of Clairvaux, leader of the Cistercians,
in 1238, which accepted woman at its enclave at Bernkastel. The convent
was formally connected to the Abbey of Himmerod. The Thirty Years
War ravaged the region in the 1600s and the cloister community suffered
heavily, but a revival during the 1700s brought the monastery to its
zenith. The most prominent leader of its history the Abbess Maria Ursula
von Metternich oversaw a rebuilding program which saw the monastery’s
original Romanesque architecture take its current Baroque form. But alas,
the monastic ideal was coming to an end. By 1793 the once vibrant convent
only consisted of 6 nuns and the abbess. In 1802, during Napoleonic rule
of the Rhine and Mosel region, the abbey was closed and sold. For 200
years the buildings were abandoned and the church used as a barn. In
1969, the historic property was discovered by a local wine merchant,
Franz Schneider, who bought it with a vision to restore its former luster.
Brauhaus - Beer, Wine, Eating and Drinking
The Kloster Machern offers a whole collection of surprises for the touring
visitor. The Brauhaus Restaurant takes up portions of the beautiful Baroque
Hall. A modern micro-brewery restaurant where the nuns once gathered
in silence in the baroque hall now serves beer and a traditional regional
menu in warm boisterous conviviality. A sectioned copper distilling cask
serves as the bar and reservations desk. The Wine Cabinet is a smaller
cellar restaurant and wine shop with a selection of locally produced
Saar and Mosel varietals, including its own unique wine dedicated to
the monastic past, the Clairvaux-Eberbach Burgundy and Monastery-Rheingau
Kloster Himmerod. The Monastery Distillery is a specialty shop offering
a collection of wines, liqueurs, and brandies, as well as vinegars, mustards
and oils. The Kloster Machern Brewery (Klosterbrauerei Machern) is the
beer maker of the site from whence it gets its name.
Toys and Icon Museum
If
looking for more than eating and drinking, the Kloster Machern gives
a large portion of its space to a fascinating and curious museum. The
Museum of Toys and Icons features a large collection of toys, dolls
and doll houses. The museum showcases historic dolls mostly between
1850 and 1925, with a wonderful range of meticulously detailed miniatures
of kitchens, craft rooms, and even a doll pharmacy and metal toys.
The pride of the collection are a number of valuable single-character
precious dolls called “My Darling” produced in 1909 by
the Kammer and Reinhardt
company of German toymakers. And quite on
the far side of dolls, the museum also features an extensive collection
on religious iconography, with a special emphasis on Russian and Eastern
Orthodox images. The collection of more than 1,000 icon images, adorned
the churches and monasteries of the Eastern branch of the church established
in Byzantium in the early middle-ages. The exhibition features representations
of God and Angels, the Blessed Mother and Holidays of the Orthodox
Church and includes a Black Madonna. The Toys and Icon Museum requires
a small admission fee.
Baroque Chapel
The
Chapel at Kloster Machern still remains as the vestige of its religious
past. Located in eastern wing of the cloister next to the
brewery restaurant, small and compact, no longer manned by nuns,
the little church of the historic convent has been returned
to its Baroque period look. Though quite beautiful and solitary, while
the Madonna turns her eyes to the heavens, underneath in the cellar crypt,
Schnapps is being distilled. Religious services are no longer held at
the chapel, though occasionally for special events pastors from neighboring
institutions will come for presentations or ceremonies.
Visiting the Brauhaus Kloster Machern Mosel
The Kloster Machern is just a mile from the center of Bernkastel-Kues and is a featured stop on many cruises of the upper Mosel River. Wine tasting festivals are held on the grounds, including an ersatz version of Oktoberfest in the fall. The only admission charge is to the Toy and Icon Museum. Escorted Group tours of the monastery buildings are offered with advance reservations. © Bargain Travel Europe
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Kloster Machern
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See Also:
RHINE & MOSEL WINE FESTIVALS BY RAIL
BAD DURKHEIM WINE ROAD FESTIVAL
WINE MUSEUM BROMSERBURG CASTLE - RÜDESHEIM
