For the good of body and soul

Interesting objects and documents from the old “monastery pharmacy", herbal manuals and herbal collections, healing stones and spices take us back to the early days of monastic medicine. The exhibition shows just how much today’s psychological notion, namely that physical and mental health form a unity, already held sway at that time.
For centuries the monasteries with their herbal medicine played an important role in medical care and nursing.
In this special exhibition we present central topics of the traditional medicine of monasteries – the lifestyle, nutrition, nursing are part of the exhibition.
In the Middle Ages medicine was firmly in the hands of the monasteries. It was not until the founding of the first universities around 1200 that this changed. Until then, the monasteries were the centres of healing and treatment par excellence. But even afterwards the commitment of nuns and monks to the field of medicine did not cease.

Monastic medicine is based upon the Rule of the Order of St. Benedict, which states that the care of the sick is one of the most pressing tasks of nuns and monks: “Before all things and above all things, care must be taken of the sick, so that they will be served as if they were Christ in person...” RB 36.1

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