SYNOPSIS

The local myth “Sister Küngold and the pale knight” describes a tragic romance that is said to have happened in the year 1123 at the woman‘s monastery of Petit Lucelle. The legend touches eternal topics of the classical drama: such as the quest for love, the loss of it, spiritual awakening, catharsis and tragic fate. On another level, the saga is also a primary example of how historical, social, political and religious circumstances are described, transmitted and connected via oral history and mythology.

In this case, the folk tale‘s classic motifs are placed in an actual historical setting and reflect the tumultuous history of the region linked with Grand Lucelle Abbey. Founded in 1123 and for centuries Alsace‘s most powerful monastery, it survived the Plague, the Swabian and the Thirty Years wars until it was expropriated and destroyed during the French Revolution.

Today, merely a few ghostly remainders of this history are visible: the Chapel St.Joseph at “Chlösterli” (Small Monastery) next to a farm in what is today Switzerland, and, on French territory, a few empty buildings at former Grand Lucelle Abbey, along a road popular with motorcyclists and day tourists.

Hidden away on a sunny plateau above Petit Lucelle also still lies our house Saalhof, another outpost of Grand Lucelle Abbey. Surrounded by forests and cliffs, Saalhof served as a farm and refuge for Grand Lucelle’s monks during wars and revolutions for centuries until 1792, when it was destroyed, burnt down and partially rebuilt a few years later. Saalhof‘s meter-thick walls, a sturdy, almost rectangular but four story tall shape, the eclectic distribution of tiny window openings and remains of renaissance pillars on facades are witnesses of its eventful history and function since 1123.

This is where in autumn 2023, 900 years later, we inaugurate SAALHOF 1123.

With a theatrical staging of works and objects by 16 international artists, designers and musicians, we invite you to join us on the eve of the harvest festival “Action de Grâce”, as we turn the page to write yet another chapter in Küngold and her pale knights myth.

Read the original saga from 1123 transcribed by Elisabeth Pfluger in 1984
Solothurner Dialekt  in English