Einsiedeln Things to Do

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While the Diorma hosts the birth of Jesus, the Panorma displays his crucifixion.
Admission fee was about 6 CHF.
There are no toilets inside.

Inside the building there is an oil painting, dimensions roughly 100x10 meters.
It is worth a look.
There is also an audio tape which explains the story.

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The Diorama is host of one of the largest cribs in the world.
Admission fee was about 6 CHF.
There are toilets inside.

The diorama displays the birth of Jesus Christus.
There are hundreds of wooden figures inside.
In regular intervals an audio tape explains the scenario.
Go in and find out.

Inside the church is very grand and colourful. The present abbey church was built as an integral part of the monastery in 1704-1750. Unfortunately, it is forbidden to film or photograph. You can buy postcards though. There is also a black madonna. It's worshipping goes back 700 years. Carefully look at all the details in the paintings etc.

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This famous library in rococo style dates back to the founding of the monastery in the 10th century. You can only visit the library on a guided tour which starts daily at pm (except Sundays and holy days). Tickets for CHF 12.00 can be bought at the tourist office until 10 minutes beforehand. Mind you, the tour is in German only. I have been on such a tour in 2002. In 2002 the library has been newly renovated.

The tourist information is located on Hauptstrasse 85 (the main street in front of the monastery going towards the railway station).

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In my opinion this is the most beautiful building of Maria Einsiedeln,because of its great frescos at the facade and the lovely decorations at the roof of that building that is a bank today. You may enlarge my second photograph in order to see the fine details of the facade and the roof of that really interesting building !

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After you have seen the monastery and the Basilika of Maria Einsiedeln it really makes sense to take a closer look for the lovely buildings in the small town of Einsiedeln.
On my picture you may see the lovely townhall, built directely opposite of the basilika.
Enlarge my photographs and take a closer look at the lovel decorations of that ornate facade ! It really is a pity, that it was heavyly raining while I visited Einsiedeln, so I had to give up to take more pictures !

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The well of the monastery in Einsiedeln is one of the places, where all of the pilgrims will go, and most of them fill their bottles and take some of the water back home.
Around the well there are 12 seperate outlets for the water, beautifully decorated as you may see on my 2nd photograph.
When-ever travelling in Switzerland it makes sense to have a water-bottle handy, because that water is excellent drinking-water in all the wells of Switzerland and it is free of charge, so there is NO need to buy some expensive bottled mineral-water like Evians or Vittel etc.

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The Basilica of Maria Einsiedeln was built 1719-1735 in the centre of the 4 wings of the monastery and it has 2 spires, each of them 56 meters high. The interior of the Basilika is beautifully decorated with frescos by the brothers Damian and Egid Quirin Asam from Bavaria. ("Asam-Baroque" used to be some sort of a "trade-mark" for ornate decorations and frescos and there is even an Asam-church in Munich, built and payed by themselves !)
There is a miracle-working-image of a "Black Madonna" in a seperate chapel, opposite of the entrance to the basilika. The wooden sculpture of that Madonna is dressed in beautiful robes and all day long it is really hard to get to that place.
Almost all days there are church-services held for the thousands of tourists coming to that church every day.