Vestibule / Hans Baldung Grien: Crucifixion @museum.de

We’re delighted to welcome you to the parish church of the Assumption of Mary, which is also the former monastery church of Schuttern Benedictine Abbey. Feel free to enter!

Even out here in the vestibule, you get an inkling of how vast Schuttern used to be – and how magnificent! Just take a look at the wall to your left:

What you see here are the architectural drawings made during the dig that was carried out beneath the nave in the 1970s. The archaeological investigations brought to light the history of Schuttern Monastery since it was first established in the early Middle Ages and they advanced the research into that field.

If you’re interested in seeing the area of the dig beneath the floor of the nave, you may like to take part in one of our guided tours. Please feel free to get in touch! Contact information for the Schuttern Historical Society is on your screen now.

info@historischer-verein-schuttern.de

Above the floor plans of the various construction phases, there’s a reproduction of a famous painting that now hangs in Berlin’s Gemäldegalerie. It’s entitled The Crucifixion of Christ and is by one of the most important of Renaissance painters, draughtsmen and engravers: Hans Baldung, alias Grien.

It dates to the early 16th century, when Hans Baldung was working in Strasbourg and Freiburg. Contemporary viewers were captivated by its expressive figures and luminous colours.

But take a closer look. On the edge of the painting, bottom right, there’s the small figure of a kneeling monk and a coat of arms with a black cross. These armorial bearings belong to Conrad Frick, who was abbot of Schuttern monastery from 1518 to 1535, and very probably commissioned the painting. That Frick had dealings with one of the most respected artists of the period tells us just how important the abbey was in the late Middle Ages.