Müstair - St. Johann

Many churches, chapels and abbeys all over continental Europe claim to be founded by Charlemagne.

Saint John Abbey in the village of Müstair (= monasterium) is - most likely - founded in deed by Charlemagne or a bishop under Charles´ order around 774. At that time Charlemagne fought war against the Langobards in Northern Italy and needed save and secure passes over the Alps for his army. Fortified monasteries played an important role in this strategy.

Dendrochronological surveys found out, that some of the beams used for the construction cut around 775, what is, when Charlemagne´s soldiers conquered the Lombardy.

The "Benediktinerinnenkloster St. Johann", today still a Benedictine nunnery, is since 1983 a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

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A convent that old of course owns valuable, very old treasures.
The nuns run a museum here with some really extraordinary objects.

These fragments were found during excavations. The carvings are parts of a former existing rood screen, that got probably destroyed when raiders set fire to the convent in the Battle of Calven (1499).

Seen to the left is St. John the Baptist.

Matthew 3:4

"John’s clothes were made of camel’s hair, and he had a leather belt around his waist. His food was locusts and wild honey."