Retreat and reflection were indeed crucial in medieval monasteries, but the close networking of the monasteries within the orders facilitated a transfer of knowledge, the speed and scope of which is still astonishing today. The basis of knowledge transfer was writing. Books borrowed from other monasteries were copied, or texts written in-house were duplicated. The use of Latin made it possible to understand and pass on texts throughout Europe. These were primarily theological writings, but also chronicles and works on botany and medicine. Some ancient texts have only survived thanks to monastic copies. New monasteries were founded under the guidance of abbots and monks from the mother monastery or an established location. In this way, knowledge about choosing a suitable location, knowledge of agriculture and forestry, preserving food, brewing beer, and much more was passed on. Building practice was particularly important. Here, the orders each had their own principles. Direct influences can still be seen today. One of the most influential building traditions is that of the Hirsau reform movement within the Benedictine order. The monasteries on the Petersberg in Erfurt, in Thalbürgel and in Paulinzella were staffed with experienced construction workers in the first half of the 12th century, directly from the mother monastery of Hirsau in the Black Forest. From the 12th century onwards, the Premonstratensians were also in Thuringia, just a few years after the order was founded in Prémontré, France, in 1120 by Norbert of Xanten. As with the Benedictines, there are also women's communities here. For example, the Veßra Monastery in southern Thuringia, founded in 1131, united both communities. The foundation was initiated by the Counts of Henneberg, whose house monastery it served as. The Counts of Käfernburg decided in favour of the Cistercians in 1142 when they founded their house monastery of Georgenthal, directly from the mother monastery in Morimond, France. By founding their own private monasteries, rulers were not only able to provide for the salvation of souls, but also to expand their earthly power. Most monasteries were privileged directly by the Pope and largely withdrawn from the regionally powerful bishops. This made the founding of monasteries and foundations attractive for rulers. By the end of the Middle Ages, well over 200 monasteries and foundations had been established in Thuringia. However, with the Reformation, many of the monasteries were secularized and turned into domains. In the 20th century, a canning factory was operated in Göllingen in northern Thuringia, which used the site of the domain that had emerged from the monastery complex in the 16th century. The Romanesque west tower of the demolished monastery church with its crypt was preserved. The monastery buildings themselves were either used for commercial purposes or - as in Paulinzella - were subsequently repeatedly used as a quarry for secular building projects. The former Premonstratensian monastery of Mildenfurth in East Thuringia, founded in 1193 as the house monastery of the governors of Weida, was dissolved in 1543. The building complex was acquired by Matthes von Wallenrod, castle captain of Veste Coburg in the service of the Dukes of Saxony. He converted the church into a castle by leaving the choir, transept and part of the nave standing and adding mezzanine floors. The demolished parts of the nave were used as building material for the conversions and installations and the high castle wall. The monastery of St. Peter and Paul on the Petersberg, which was already prominent when it was founded, remained standing until the early 19th century, although the mountain itself had long since been transformed into a fortress of the Archbishop of Mainz. It was only destroyed in the Napoleonic Wars. The victorious Prussians converted the enormous Romanesque church into a storage building, and in the process it finally lost its sacred appearance. Today, the exposed interior reminds us of the monumentality of the former setting of monastic liturgy. However, earlier monastery churches could not only be used for pragmatic reasons. The ruins of the Paulinzella monastery church derive a good part of their fame not from the importance of the medieval monastery or even from their use as an official domain and hunting lodge for the princes of Schwarzburg-Rudolstadt, but from the admiration that began in the 18th century as a ruin during the Romantic period. Paulinzella became a popular motif for texts and images. Paulinzella was therefore deliberately maintained as a ruin from an early stage, and this is still the maxim in preserving this complex cultural monument today. Elsewhere, too, the aim is to preserve and make visible the passage of time, but at the same time to make the remaining, often radiant, medieval sacred architecture experienceable. A production by NEU PRODUCTION