Schloss Sonnenburg - St. Lorenzen

Tucholsky once wrote that “Wherever monks and nobles have built you can live with peace of mind” and he was right. This noble seat was originally built as a convent for women from noble families. Now it is a four star hotel with wood panelled Stuben (rustic living rooms), elegant rooms, protective walls surrounded by terraces and gardens where Tyrolean noblewomen once spent their contemplative hours. The medieval court usher’s house has been altered to accommodate holiday flats.

Almost 1000 years ago Volkold inherited Suanapurc from his father earl Otwin. As he was interested in the western ideals, he turned his castle into a nun cloister and kept on living as a hermit. His trust, well equipped with valuable goods and political rights like the castle court Sonnenburg, became a prestigious cloister for noble women. There are plenty of myths and stories about the lordship times of the abbesses: beginning from judgements of god because of assumed unchastity, to tough quarrels between cardinal Cusanus and the independent abbess Verena, from fires and plundering, but also from castle life and of course of the religious life.