Bildungshaus Kloster Schöntal can host a residential seminar for more than 100 people, a plenary of 250 in theater style or a wedding dinner for 150 in its vaulted cellar, with about 140 beds in 88 bedrooms on site. It occupies the former Cistercian abbey of Schöntal, on the Jagst river in northern Baden-Württemberg, and is run by the Diocese of Rottenburg-Stuttgart as one of its conference houses.
Seminars and company events
The conference area is in the Neue Abtei, the abbey's Baroque main building, with 19 meeting and group rooms from 12 to 205 m². The house works with seminars, strategy retreats, workshops, creative sessions and choir or concert rehearsals. Rooms are equipped to the organizer's schedule, rooms on the ground and first floors have wired internet, and Wi-Fi covers the second floor and the guest rooms. Groups can book a day package or stay on half or full board, and the team can add a barbecue evening in the cloister garden, regional wine tastings or modules for meditation and relaxation.
Weddings and receptions
Couples and families can book the Baroque reception rooms, the vaulted cellar named after Abbot Knittel, or the cloister garden for drinks outside. The team plans the menu and works with a list of vetted photographers, stylists and other suppliers. Guests can stay overnight in single, double or family rooms.
Rooms and capacities
The largest room, 222, covers 203.5 m² and takes 250 in theater style, 140 in herringbone layout, 120 in parliament style or 64 around a block table. Room 203 (100 m²) seats 100 in theater style, and room 103 (95 m²) seats 80. Rooms EG3, 104, 114 and 204, between 45 and 62 m², each take about 50 in theater style, and 219 takes 48. The Abt Knittel cellar seats 150 at tables, or 48 in its fireplace room. The Haus der Stille, set in the former brewery and distillery, has a 73.5 m² meditation room for 24.
Accommodation
The 88 bedrooms are spread over three buildings: 54 in the Neue Abtei, including studios and two family rooms, 16 in the Haus der Stille and 18 in the Gästehaus an der Honigsteige. The house counts about 140 beds. The main building has an elevator and two rooms fitted for wheelchair users, and every room has a desk and a safe.
Catering
The kitchen focuses on regional food. Groups choose between a conference package, a set menu, a buffet, half board or full board, and breakfast is served from 7:30 to 9:30.
History and setting
Monks from Maulbronn founded the abbey in 1157 and named the valley Speciosa Vallis, the beautiful valley. Abbot Benedikt Knittel, in office from 1683, gave the site its Baroque form: the Neue Abtei, begun by the Bamberg architect Johann Leonhard Dientzenhofer, the abbey church and the chapel on the Kreuzberg. The Neue Abtei keeps a Rococo staircase under a ceiling fresco, the Ordenssaal and the abbot's room. The knight Götz von Berlichingen, who died in 1562, is buried in its cloister.
Getting there
The nearest railway station is Möckmühl, reached from Stuttgart via Heilbronn, from Frankfurt via Heidelberg or from Würzburg, and bus line 11 continues to Schöntal. By road, the A81 between Stuttgart and Würzburg has an exit for Möckmühl, Jagsthausen and Schöntal, and the A6 can be left at Öhringen or Neuenstein. Parking, including for coaches, is available at the abbey.
