ARD suspense drama - Nuns Never Dwelt in Reisach Abbey: Clarifying the Facts Regarding the "Tatort" Series
These detectives in the show "Tatort" normally work in Munich. But a murder in the small community made them travel to the stunning Reisach Monastery, which is nestled in the Inntal Valley and was broadcast on Sunday night. There hasn't been this much activity in that area for a while, and the scenes in the series were filmed during the summer of 2021. At that time, the monastery had been shuttered for two years.
Built in 1731 by Bavarian chamberlain Johann Georg von Messerer, the monastery was originally dedicated to St. Theresa and was known as Kloster Urfahrn before the secularization of 1802. It became the extinct monastery of the dissolved Carmelite monasteries, which provided a home for wandering monks. Unlike some other monasteries, there were never any nuns residing there. Instead, it was home to the Discalced Carmelites, the male branch of the Teresian Carmel - the reformed division of the Carmelites. Since 2012, the Discalced Carmelites from the Krakow Province were residents of the monastery. However, in 2019, the Polish monks headed back to their homeland, leaving the monastery vacant after its dissolution. With no interest from the Archdiocese of Munich and Freising to maintain the dilapidated property, the monastery property reverted to the Bavarian government.
The monastery is currently closed
Unfortunately, you can't visit the site at the moment, as the church has been shut down due to the risk of structural collapse, and the western building needs immediate repairs. These repairs would cost at least nine million euros, according to the monastery. So, for now, the remarkable estate, consisting of historical buildings, is altogether uninhabited and unused. However, there's a glimmer of hope: a local entrepreneur from Kiefersfelden has developed a plan to save and preserve the monastery. He's started an initiative to gather the funds necessary for this renovation project.
Is this project doing well? Since the initial airing of the "Tatort" in December 2021, not much seems to have been accomplished. But don't lose hope; as the title of the crime suggests: "Miracles always happen again."
Read also:
- The investigation in the "Tatort" series brought detectives Miroslav Nemec and Ivo Batic to the abandoned Reisach Monastery, which was famously depicted in Munich-based episodes, including one that aired last Sunday.
- Udo Wachtveitl, a local entrepreneur from Kiefersfelden, is leading an initiative to save the crumbling Miroslav Nemec-famed monastery in Inn Valley, which was once home to the Discalced Carmelites.
- The monastery, a crime scene in the "Tatort" episode that aired in December 2021, has remained uninhabited since the Polish monks, led by Abbot Tadeusz Rutkowski, departed for Krakow in 2019.
- The crime that took place inside the monastery, now a focal point of Udo Wachtveitl's preservation efforts, left a significant impact on the usually tranquil Inntal Valley, shaking the community and garnering much media attention.
