The Dornach Monastery and the Swabian War

6 December 2021

The monastery in Dornach (Canton Solothurn) was built between 1674 and 1676. Maria Magdalena von Roll (1604-1672) donated the money for its construction through a bequest in 1672.

It was the only Capuchin monastery in the Birseck region, located in the Birs River basin, which spans today’s Birseck and Solothurn cantons. The last monks departed in 1990, and the Dornach Monastery Foundation assumed control of the complex.

The monument commemorating the Battle of Dornach in the Swabian War (Schwabenkrieg) in 1499 is next to the monastery. Therefore, it is more than symbolic that on 27 July 1999, the 500th anniversary of the battle, the canton of Solothurn transferred the donation certificate from 1672 to the foundation.

The nearby Beinhaus of the monument contains the skulls and bones of Eidgenossen and Habsburger, the main opposing sides in the Schwabenkrieg,  ‘Die Edlen müssen bei den Bauern liegen’.

(Source: www.klosterdornach.ch).