Franziskanerkloster St. Elisabeth

The origins of the site date back to around 1225, when a small hospital was established below Wartburg Castle. This was founded by Landgravine Elisabeth and served to care for the sick and needy. It presumably consisted of wooden buildings and a small chapel. During the Thuringian-Hessian War of Succession, the hospital, situated between the front lines, was likely destroyed or abandoned. Approximately a century after Elisabeth's death in 1231, Franciscan friars erected a monastery complex on this site. This was elaborately constructed on two hillside terraces and included a monastery church, cells for the monks, storage, and utility buildings, all surrounded by a protective wall. A preserved monastery chronicle from the mid-15th century provides insights into monastic life at the time. With the Reformation, the Franciscans left the monastery in 1525, after which it was used as a quarry. It was not until the 19th and 20th centuries that archaeological excavations uncovered foundations and researched the building's history.

The monastery was located in Eisenach, a city in Thuringia, Germany. It lay on the footpath to Wartburg Castle, just a few hundred meters before the castle gate, directly above the access road. The Elisabethbrunnen (Elisabeth Well), a drinking water source carved into the rock, was part of the monastery grounds.

Today, the Elisabethplan serves as an unofficial pilgrimage site commemorating the former monastery and acts as a memorial to St. Elisabeth. Parts of the excavated foundations have been made visible to illustrate the original layout. An Elisabeth sculpture and a wooden cross mark the site.

• Wartburg Castle (castle, approx. 197 m away)
• Metilstein Castle Ruin (ruin, approx. 350 m away)
• Hellgrevenhof (castle, approx. 1030 m away)
• Alte Residenz Eisenach (palace, approx. 1072 m away)