The Abbey of Einsiedeln is one of the most important baroque monastic sites and the largest place of pilgrimage in Switzerland.

[2] The abbey operates a private high school along with a winery, sawmill, restaurant and other small businesses in order to support itself.

After gaining public attention for reportedly performing miracles, Meinrad established a hermitage in 828 in the Einsiedeln forest of Switzerland, searching for privacy.

In 934 Eberhard, previously Provost of Strassburg, built the Einsiedeln abbey and church on the hermitage site, becoming its first abbot.

[4] In 965 Gregory, the third Abbot of Einsiedeln, was named a prince of the Holy Roman Empire by Emperor Otto I.

The figure of the enthroned Madonna holding the baby Christ on her left knee, which appears on an abbey seal from 1239, is considered Einsiedeln's oldest miraculous image.

Augustine established unrelaxed observance in the abbey and promoted a high standard of scholarship and learning amongst his monks.

Because of the political uncertainties inside and outside the country in the 1840s, the Einsiedeln leadership became afraid that the abbey would be suppressed or dissolved.

They sent a group of monks to southern Indiana in the United States to minister to German immigrants and develop a possible place of refuge.

[6] There are a total of five monasteries in the USA that are linked to Einsiedeln by history: A highlight in the history of the monastery was the visit of Pope John Paul II in the summer of 1984, who solemnly consecrated the new high altar in the lower choir on June 15.

After the great ecclesiastical crisis caused by the Reformation, the monastic community consolidated again and played a significant role in shaping Einsiedeln's pilgrimage culture.

The library was founded in 934 and the monastery already had its own writing school in the mid-10th century; 64 manuscripts from this period are still preserved today.

The scriptorium, established in 2022, is a reminder of this, where visitors can learn about the production of books in the Middle Ages and write with ink and quill themselves.

According to the current abbot of Einsiedeln Abbey, this is reflected in "the most holistic humanistic education possible, which essentially includes the artistic dimension".