[2] This foundation failed to establish itself, and the successor, Kloster Eberbach, was founded in 1136[3] by Bernard of Clairvaux as the first Cistercian monastery on the east bank of the Rhine.

[1] Eberbach Abbey was also very successful economically, principally as a result of profits from the cultivation of vineyards and the production of wine.

In about 1525 it is said that in the abbey there was an enormous wine barrel with a volume of between c. 50,000 and 100,000 litres, which in the German Peasants' War of 1525 was heavily used by rebels from the Rheingau, who were encamped just below the monastery.

The 18th century was a period of great economic success: surviving accounts show that the abbey profits were regularly invested on the Frankfurt money market.

After the Reichsdeputationshauptschluss the abbey was dissolved on 18 September 1803 and with its assets and territory became the property of Prince Friedrich Augustus of Nassau-Usingen.

After considerable structural work Eberbach serves inter alia as a venue for cultural events and displays, and as a film location, as for example for Umberto Eco's The Name of the Rose (1985).

With effect from 1 January 1998 the State of Hesse transferred the entire abbey complex into the ownership of a publicly owned charitable foundation, the Stiftung Kloster Eberbach ("Eberbach Abbey Foundation"), which has the goal of conserving the architectural and cultural monument by overseeing its appropriate, controlled and sustainable use as well as of maintaining the historical tradition of wine production.

A property list, the Oculus Memoriae, survives from as early as the year 1211, giving detailed information on the possessions and premises of the abbey complex.

This was due to heavy rain, which caused the Kisselbach river to overflow its banks, and the increased volume of water brought about the collapse of the 18th century storm drain under the abbey.