Presumably, the Disibodenberg was already a place of cultic significance for the Celts and later for the Romans. The name Disibodenberg is derived from the Irish-Scottish wandering monk Disibod, who is considered the founding father of the monastery around 650.
In the following period, the medieval monastery was expanded in several construction phases: Around 1000, Augustinians founded a chapter of canons on the Disibodenberg, and from 1100, Benedictines built a monastic complex with a basilica, three chapels, a cloister and garden, chapter house, sleeping quarters, kitchen, and workshops. This was the time when Hildegard of Bingen spent about 40 years in a hermitage on the Disibodenberg. From 1300, Cistercians added significant large buildings. However, after being abandoned by the monks in 1560, the monastery increasingly fell into disrepair and was used as a quarry by the surrounding communities. It was not until the privatization of the site in 1812 that this exploitation was halted.
Today, the complex is owned by the private Disibodenberg Scivias Foundation. Both the Disibodenberg monastery ruins and the integrated romantic landscape park from 1840 are protected as historical monuments and cover an area of 20,000 square meters. The archaeological museum displays stone witnesses from two millennia.
