The former Franciscan monastery

General information

The former monastery has been utilized in a variety of ways since the early 19th century, for instance as a factory, a school and an almshouse. Today, you are standing in front of the town hall.  

The monastery was built between 1732 and 1735 and was inhabited by Franciscan monks. It was finally dissolved in 1813, however, after a wave of secularization. Due to numerous alterations over the years the monastery’s original design has all but been lost. Of particular architectural importance is the hanging beam design of the roof of the former monastery church of St. Michael. Two crosses on the roof of the former monastery are reminders of its Christian past: a two-barred cross – the so-called San Damiano cross and symbol of the Franciscan Order, and a simple iron cross opposite this.

In front of the former Franciscan monastery is the Klosterplatz square and the Klosterbrunnen fountain. It served as the water source for the monastery and the hospice. Old residents of Seelbach can remember as schoolchildren having to wet their sponges and clean their writing slates in the fountain before lessons began. The fountain was also used mornings and evenings by farmers and servants who brought their horses and cattle to its drinking trough.

Today, there’s a bustling market here ever Saturday morning. Local products are offered on the farmers’ market, a certified right that dates back to 1455.