Churches Monasteries and Councils

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The project region covers the area between the Danube and the Alps, to the west it borders the Black Forest, to the east it reaches into the Allgäu. On the one hand, Lake Constance and the regions connected by it are decisive for the project region, and on the other hand the area opened up by the Upper Swabian Baroque Road. The project is based on five main themes: 1. UNESCO World Heritage. With the monasteries St. Gallen and the island of Reichenau, the Lake Constance region has two World Heritage sites, which will also occupy a special position in this project. Its importance extends far beyond the region, and it also enables Europe-wide links. 2. Churches & Monasteries. More than 350 former or active monastic communities can be found in the region outlined above. The number of churches is even greater: the cultural landscape between the Alps and the Danube has been shaped by the church and its institutions. To this day pilgrimages and pilgrimages testify to lived customs and popular piety. Especially in the Lake Constance region, tourists represent an important part of church visitors. The churches and monasteries are at the same time important cultural-historical buildings of European standing, exemplary for 50 years the Upper Swabian Baroque Road. 3. Spirituality and tourism. For over a thousand years, pilgrims and travellers have been travelling in the region to find themselves. The modern tourist is also looking for not only the sun and the beach, but also spiritual and cultural suggestions, as can be seen from guest surveys. Today, not only are pilgrimages in the Pyrenees, but the Lake Constance region also runs through numerous pilgrimage, pilgrimage and church paths. 4. Impetus for Europe. Not only the two World Heritage sites were important drivers for Europe: one of the most important medieval church congresses in the Lake Constance region took place with the Constance Council. The project will focus on people and events that are important beyond the region. Today, the ecclesiastical educational and conference houses are important impetus. 5. Lived customs. The monasteries with their model goods were role models and initiators for the cultural development of the region. Lived customs means not only picture carpets in processions and Thanksgiving decorations in the churches. It extends to traditional craft techniques, such as those used in the construction of the monastery town Campus Galli to exemplarily recreate a medieval monastery complex. Project objectives. The international Lake Constance region is a cultural landscape whose rich church history has shaped Europe for centuries and from which impulses still emanate into Europe today. In comparison to Lake Constance, no other landscape is so rich in architectural and artistic testimonies that are indestructible and still tangible and tangible today. There is no place in such concentrations of customs and living traditions. Unique is the combination and spiritual connection between landscape, lake and architecture. The cooperation of church and tourism representatives opens up new and innovative opportunities for the region, which transcend the traditional themes of church and tourism and allow for a new openness in dealing with each other. The project partners, who have been publishing the magazine “Churches, Monasteries & Councils” since 2012, want to further develop their previous project Kirchen, Monasteries & Councils into a brand leading product of the Four-Country Region-Bodensee. The project counteracts tendencies to define the Lake Constance region as a region defined by national borders and emphasises its international character.

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