Kloster, Ilanz

Worship times

Monday
07:00 a.m.: Lauds + Eucharistic Celebration
5:30 p.m.: Vespers + contemplation

Tuesday
07:00 a.m.: Lauds + contemplation
5:30 p.m.: Vespers + Eucharistic Celebration

Wednesday
07:00 a.m.: Celebration of the Word
5:30 p.m.: Vespers + contemplation

Thursday
07:00 a.m.: Lauds + Eucharistic Celebration
5:30 p.m.: Vespers + contemplation

Friday
07:00 a.m.: Lauds + Eucharistic Celebration
5:30 p.m.: Vespers + contemplation

Saturday
07:00 a.m.: Celebration of the Word
5:30 p.m.: Vespers + contemplation

Sundays and public holidays:
07:30 a.m.: Lauds
10:00 a.m.: Eucharistic celebration
5:30 p.m.: Vespers

Monastery – one often thinks of long cloisters and venerable church buildings. Stucco and baroque angels are not to be found in Ilanz Monastery. The monastery complex was rebuilt around 50 years ago by Zurich architect Walter Moser. In 1969, he took on the challenge of designing a building complex with an extensive space program in an exposed location. The cubic shapes are reminiscent of the work of Le Corbusier. The monastery building is U-shaped, open to the valley and encloses the mountains as a meditation room. The church is a cube, plastered in white, prominently placed on the edge of the terrain. The 2000-year-old Christian tradition can also be found in the modern forms: the church has twelve – the number of apostles – concrete pillars and church windows. In 1975, a boarding school was expanded to the east, today's House of Encounter. With its special architecture, the modern monastery in Ilanz is one of the 52 best buildings in Graubünden.

Environment

The building to the right below the monastery is the former farmer's school. To the right of the Rhine bridge we discover the pink building of the former nursing school and the Surselva Regional Hospital. All these institutions go back to the initiative of the nuns who settled in Ilanz in 1865 and earned great merits in health care and education in the Surselva region.

The church room with its illuminated windows by Max Rüedi is too accessible during the day through the monastery gate.

Historical context

The community of sisters and their social commitment goes back to the foundation (1885) of the congregation by the priest Johann Fidel Depouz from Siat. The Superior General Maria Theresia Gasteyer (1835-1892) led the small community through the difficult early years. In 1894, the community joined the Dominican Order (founded in 1216 by St. Dominic). From 1920 they worked in missionary work in China (social tasks for women and children), together with the German Dominicans, since 1954 on Taiwan, now mainly in pastoral care.

The Dominican Sisters of Ilanz have been active in Brazil since 1952, especially in social work and pastoral care, especially among the poor.

Since its foundation, the tasks in school and adult education as well as nursing have been carried forward. Today, the focus is particularly on the spiritual and personal accompaniment of people who are searching. The Dominican Sisters of Ilanz work in Switzerland, Germany, Brazil and Taiwan in the spirit of St. Dominic and look for ways to do good for all people.

Directly adjacent to the monastery, the House of Encounter surprises with a diverse annual program on spirituality, culture and health.