The present book is the fifth publication in the series “hier und dort” (here and there), initiated in 2010. The publications accompany a series of exhibitions dedicated in loose order to individual aspects of the work of Erwin Wortelkamp. The books are published in conjunction with the respective double exhibitions between the foundation “im Tal – Stiftung Wortelkamp” and an external second venue. The focus of the present publication is that aspect of his biography, which is probably most important for the development of his work in general: his relationship to Cistercian monastic culture. In the 1950s, he was a pupil of the secondary school of the Marienstatt Cistercian abbey, which, in addition to the ruins in Heisterbach, as well as Cîteaux and Cluny, thus provides the “there” of this fifth volume in the series. The two comprehensive presentations in the respective institutions, the “Haus für die Kunst” and the “Depositum”, represent the “here”.