Vineyards, hop yards, vegetable and herb gardens melt together with the profusion of sumptuous flowers, creating a unique whole.
Monastic Idyll and Magnificent Gardens
People have lived and worked at Kartause Ittingen for centuries, leaving their mark. Over time, a large, impressive garden area was created where vineyards, hop yards, vegetable gardens and fabulous flower gardens combine into a unique whole. In early summer, about a thousand rose bushes, featuring more than 250 mostly historic roses, turn Kartause Ittingen into a romantic sea of flowers. In conjunction with Winterthur Rose Society, Kartause Ittingen takes care of Switzerland’s largest collection of historic roses and makes it available to the public. Thyme bed and thyme maze are places for contemplation and self-discovery, while Ittingen forest is an oasis for nature lovers and those in search of recreation.
Out and About With an Audio Guide On a Themed Walk
Four themed walks invite you to explore Kartause Ittingen’s gardens on a tour of the monastery grounds. Narrated by four personalities, you learn interesting and entertaining facts on the design, use and history of the gardens. There are four areas of interest to
choose from: Garden and Landscape, Calmness and Spirituality, Art and Reflection
as well as Fragrance and Pleasure.
Kartause Ittingen’s Fountains
Decorated fountains 2018 – the Year of Water at Kartause Ittingen.
Experience Kartause Ittingen on a stroll along the water
to the historical fountains.
Our garden restaurant is dominated by an impressive octagonal fountain on whose central column you can see a statue of Laurentius, the monastery’s patron saint. It is the most striking feature of monastic water management. But there are several other fountains on Kartause Ittingen’s grounds, visible testimonies of the former Charterhouse’s abundance of water.
To date, these fountains are fed by the spring at the foot of the vineyard behind the monastery. The Year of the Water is celebrated with a small exhibition at Ittingen Museum (‘Wasser – Lebensader des Klosters’) and several events. Until the end of June, the fountains are furthermore decorated with watering cans in particular colours, shapes and materials, sometimes planted, and as of June, with plants in various ‘water’ colours.