The Benedictine monastery stands in a mountain valley at the foot of Mount Titlis and is considered a possession of the town of Engelberg. It was founded in 1120 by Count Sellenburen of Zurich. In the same year it was settled by monks from the monastery of Muri. Soon the first school of scribes was opened.
For a time the monastery was intended for both women and men. The female part became obsolete by 1615 - at which time the last nuns moved to St Andreas.
The location of the abbey is very fortunate - for it stands clearly in the centre of the valley. The abbey was of both spiritual and political importance, unbroken by anything - neither fires and epidemics nor military clashes. Overcoming three fires, the abbey endured. The last fire was in 1729, after which most of the buildings were reconstructed under the direction of the Austrian architect Johann Ruf. The pride of the monastery is the wooden panels in the interior of the monastery rooms. The size of each panel is 50x20 cm and they consist of 300 or more pieces. This is the fruit of the work of one of the monks.
In the 19th century a school was built at the monastery, as the monks of the monastery paid much attention to education. Gradually the school expanded and today it consists of a gymnasium, a secondary classical school, a boarding school for children of both sexes and a folk school (for adults).
The monastery has a library, which is usual for monasteries. It contains about a thousand manuscripts (both modern and medieval), several hundred printed editions and thousands of books from the 16th-19th centuries.
There is a museum at the monastery, where you can see exhibits about the life of Benedictine monks. The most valuable exhibits are the Alpnach crucifix from the 12th century, the royal regalia of King Otto IV (1208), and a model of the monastery before the last fire of 1729.
The monastery factory makes cheese, which can be purchased in a small shop, along with local speciality meats, jams and honey.
