The monastery, the first Cistercian foundation in Bavaria, was founded by Gerwich of Wolmundstein, a Benedictine monk of Sigeberg Abbey, with the permission of his former abbot Kuno, then Bishop of Regensburg, and built between 1128 and 1132.

As the number of monks increased, several important foundations were made at Senftenberg and Osek in Bohemia, at Walderbach, near Regensburg, and in other places.

From 1537 to 1560 in the course of the Reformation administrators were appointed by the civil authorities: Frederick III, Elector Palatine, named his brother Richard for this office.

In 1669, Waldsassen was restored to the Cistercians, and in 1690 Albrecht, first of the second series of abbots (who were six in number), was elected, regaining control of the abbey, but not its imperial immediacy.

[1] In 1864, the remains of the old abbey were bought by the Cistercian nuns of Floh-Seligenthal, who in the following year took possession, established monastic enclosure, and opened a school for the education of girls.

Richly and intricately carved shelves hold thousands of volumes bound in white pigskin and dark calfskin.

These ten columns are carved in the shape of allegorical figures around book production: rag picker, pigskin maker, bookbinder, author, bookseller, critic... grotesque men bent under their burden of supporting the mezzanine level but also burdened by human foibles of their profession such as vanity, ignorance and boastfulness.