Töss Monastery

A 13th-century Dominican convent where Elsbeth Stagel recorded Meister Eckhart's teachings

Kloster Töss, a Dominican convent founded around 1233 in the Töss river valley southwest of the city centre, was one of the most important religious houses in medieval Switzerland. In the 13th and 14th centuries it became a centre of the Rhineland mysticism movement — the spiritual current associated with Meister Eckhart — and produced notable works of devotional literature by its nuns.

The monastery was dissolved during the Reformation in 1525, and its buildings have seen various uses since. The Gothic convent church survives and serves as a Protestant church, retaining some medieval fabric. The surrounding complex, including parts of the cloister, can be explored from outside. The setting along the Töss river is quiet and atmospheric, and it makes a pleasant half-day excursion from the city centre by bike or on foot along the river path.

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A story
In the 14th century, the nun Elsbeth Stagel lived at Töss and maintained a correspondence with the mystic Henry Suso, recording his autobiography. She also collected the lives of the convent's own holy women, creating a document of medieval female spirituality that historians still mine today. The convent was dissolved at the Reformation; the church has been repurposed but still stands.

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