Top 8 Caves around Schönenbuch

Since 1926, the monastery church has borne the papal title of honor of a Basilica minor. Originally built in the late Gothic style, the interior was redesigned several times and furnished and painted in the Neo-Baroque style between 1900 and 1934. The mighty high altar at the end of the choir, a gift from the French King Louis XIV, was consecrated in 1680.

The Mariastein monastery is considered the second most important pilgrimage site in Switzerland after Einsiedeln. Its origins go back to a legend in which a little boy fell over a high rock face and was then found unharmed by his mother. After he told his father that he had been caught by a woman, the father was sure that it was the Virgin Mary. He had a chapel built in a cave in her honor. The monastery complex can be visited daily, but services are held regularly. More information can be found here: https://www.kloster-mariastein.ch/informationen/agenda/

The Teufelhof Basel is a hotel in Basel's old town in two historic buildings at Leonhardsgraben 47-49. Parts of the building complex (Leonhardgraben 47) and the cellar (archaeological monument) are listed in the canton of Basel-Stadt's inventory of monuments. The idea behind the operation is to operate independent art and culture as part of a "self-subsidization" of the cultural operation through a parallel hotel and restaurant operation. Due to objections, the permit had to be obtained before the Swiss Federal Court before the opening. After this six-and-a-half-year waiting period, the hotel opened on April 28, 1989. The Teufelhof Basel now employs 70 people. The hotel consists of two buildings, the art hotel and the gallery hotel. The art hotel has eight rooms and one suite, all of which are designed as habitable works of art. The gallery hotel has 20 rooms and four junior suites and is also used as an exhibition space. Nine art rooms were designed by various artists as experiential spatial art. The artists are free to paint directly on the walls or work with materials in the room. The Teufelhof also regularly supports artists with exhibitions or projects of various kinds. The cultural operations include a theater with cabaret performances and satirical programs. The promotion of regional individual artists and groups - from accompanying rehearsals in the in-house theater to premieres in the Teufelhof - also plays an important role in the program planning. The theater is financed by the Teufelhof Basel, but since 2002 has also received a contribution from the two cantons of Basel-Stadt and Basel-Landschaft. In addition to the cultural operations in the sense of the theater and the art hotel, the house also houses two restaurants, the gourmet restaurant "Bel Etage" and the restaurant "Atelier". The house also houses a coffee bar, a gallery hotel with changing exhibitions that is offered as a free platform for the artists, a wine shop "falstaff" and a small archaeological museum, embedded in the historic Basel city walls from the 11th and 13th centuries. Source: https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teufelhof_Basel

The Mariastein monastery is, alongside the Einsiedeln monastery, the second most visited pilgrimage site in Switzerland. Thousands of believers and pilgrims from all over the world make a pilgrimage to Mariastein every year to ask Mary for help or to receive her blessing. Of course, the impressive monastery complex and the surrounding lands attract numerous tourists and hikers every year, who bring home a wealth of memories with a suitcase or backpack, but also a full photo or cell phone memory card. A detour to the gift chapel hidden in a rock grotto and the magnificent basilica is particularly recommended. If you visit Mariastein, you should also, if possible, pay a visit to the nearby castle ruins of Château Landskron in Alsace, just a few minutes' walk away.

I could no longer see any ruins on this overgrown rock. The narrow path, which seems to be taken from a fairy tale book, leads to Biedertal Castle, but is always worth a visit. Once you arrive at the castle grounds, it is not immediately clear where the path continues. If you want to visit the castle rock cave, the narrow path leads through the buildings and down into the forest. The cave itself exudes a very special atmosphere.

Mariastein Abbey is, after Einsiedeln, the second most important place of pilgrimage in Switzerland. It is known for its chapel dedicated to Mary, located in the Grotto, as well as its beautiful Gothic architecture and works of art.

Oops, sorry for the many photos! 😂

Swiss village with a French ambience.