The Allengelberg monastery complex in Karthaus in Schnalstal was built at the foot of Katharinaberg. It is one of the most beautiful and interesting sights in Val Senales, because over time the remains of the monastery have grown together with the walls of the town.
From its construction in 1326 until 1782, the monastery belonged to the Carthusian Order. Carthusians are hermits living in community, each living in a house-like monastic cell around a cloister. Their entire life, spent hours together and just as long in solitary prayer, is focused on silence and the search for God. The monastery was abolished and expropriated by Emperor Joseph II as an “institution without a purpose”. The monks were forced to leave the complex in 1782. The complex was then sold to farmers and merchants from the Senales Valley, and thus began the “merging” of monastery and village.
Despite a fierce fire that raged here in 1924, you can still visit the monastery kitchen, the prior's house, the monastery entrance portal, the grotto, the fortress wall and the preserved part of the cloister. Meanwhile, a 90-minute hiking trail leads uphill and downhill to the monastery, which introduces you to the still-perceptible silence of the place with views and quotes along the way.