Frauenchiemsee

The island Frauenchiemsee (often called Fraueninsel) is the second largest of the three islands in Chiemsee, Germany. It belongs to the municipality of Chiemsee in the Upper Bavarian district of Rosenheim, which is the smallest municipality in all of Bavaria. The 15.5-hectare (38-acre) large and car free Fraueninsel houses 300 permanent residents as well as an active Benedictine convent. Frauenchiemsee along with its sister island Herreninsel is one of the main tourist attractions on the Chiemsee, and is famous for the Kloster Liquor spirit, which is produced by the nuns. The school on the island was named Irmengard Gymnasium.

Frauenchiemsee from above, 2009

The monastery was founded in 782 by Tassilo III, Duke of Bavaria. It was called "Schönau" in the Notitia de servitio monasteriorum. After the destruction of the Hungarian incursions, the monastery's heyday was between the 11th and 15th centuries. The monastery buildings were rebuilt between 1728 and 1732. In the course of the German Mediatisation the monastery was secularised between 1803 and 1835. King Ludwig I of Bavaria rebuilt the Benedictine monastery in 1836 under the new requirement that they should pay for the education of "fallen women"; a reform school existed on the site until 1995. As of 2007 the monastery has 30 sisters, the abbess is Johanna Mayer.

The island is accessible by ship year round, usually from Gstadt, Prien, and Seebruck. There are also several boats that can take passengers from Frauenchiemsee to Herreninsel and back. A cenotaph to Alfred Jodl, army general and executed war criminal, is located on the island.